Naturalization
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: His second marriage was happening for the exact same reason as his first - to avoid deportation. But this time, it was more complicated. This time, he was actually in love.
1. Wedding

**So I had this planned ever since I found out about the whole immigration thing (I highly doubt they'll go this route on the show) and I was working on it when I saw MysticalGoddesOfWords' fic called "Because You Want To." It has the same basic premise as this fic, and I considered shelving it so it wouldn't look like I was simply copying her. But she has expressed an interest in reading my take on the premise, and we are going in fairly different directions with it, so I decided to go ahead and start posting mine. Definitely give hers a read – she's brilliant and unlike mine (I'm debating on if chapter two will have smut or not) hers is DEFINITELY gonna have a lot of smuttiness in it so if y'all are as thirsty for some Waige action as I am, head on over to her page!**

* * *

Walter O'Brien was nervous as Hell.

He shifted his weight, tugging at his collar, his breath escaping him with a heavy "hoo."

He'd driven under aircraft, free fallen through the atmosphere, stopped a tornado, walked within the walls of Chernobyl, and yet, somehow, _this_ was sure to be the most complicated thing he had ever done.

" _I don't want to ask that of you. It's not...fair...to ask that. Of you."_

" _You let Happy do it. Why not me?"_

" _That was completely different."_

 _Paige folded her arms. "How?"_

 _Walter cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets. "It was…well, for starters, it was a long time ago."_

" _Look, Walter, I know you like stating facts, but randomly stating facts that have nothing to do with what we're talking about isn't going to move this conversation forward."_

" _Paige," Walter said, "Happy and I were both completely alone. We didn't think marrying each other would affect our personal lives. You have Ralph. I can't let you tie yourself and him to me just to keep me in the country."_

 _Paige dropped down into her chair. "Walter. Remember after the subway car incident when I...when I told you that both of us...we need you...in our lives?"_

" _That's not…."_

" _Walter, Scorpion needs to work. Scorpion needs you to work. I know that overall, I don't do as much as everyone else."_

" _That's not true. You are a completely essential part of…"_

" _A team that wouldn't work without you either," she said pointedly. "Walter. Think of all the people that will die if you get deported. This plan…me marrying you…it's for the greater good."_

The Greater Good. The very thing that had, for so long, kept them apart.

And yet…Walter cleared his throat, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck. They still weren't _together_ , not really. This was simply a strategy, a means of keeping Walter within the United States until he acquired citizenship. It was two coworkers who had the same end goal in mind and were working together to achieve it. Paige didn't call upon the greater good as an argument for why they should be together – she used it to justify a business tactic.

But God, did he love her.

" _We should be able to convince them," she said. "I mean, the kiss between you and Happy, I know I didn't see it, but I know we can improve upon that awkwardness. I mean, we have kissed before."_

He thought about that kiss all the time. Everything about it. And he ached to kiss her again, to step close and wrap his arms around her, to feel her hands running through his hair. He remembered watching a young couple propose, back in the first year that Scorpion functioned as it did now, and, oddly, feeling a strong association between that observation and the woman who had then been standing next to him. At the time, if he thought about it at all, he'd have attributed the association to the fact that the young man had used a ring Paige had deftly plucked off her finger for that very purpose.

Immigration would be all over this marriage that they were minutes away from entering into. This marriage, that was in some gray area – that, if he thought about it, probably shouldn't exist – between fraudulent and genuine and he wasn't even sure where on the spectrum it fell for him and it certainly fell else ware for Paige. She didn't know how he felt about her, and he certainly doubted, despite her recent breakup with Tim Armstrong, that she would reciprocate if she did.

This marriage, like his to Happy, would be in name only. But even though Walter and Paige hadn't entered into it yet, he already knew it wouldn't be the same. It couldn't be. Not when, this time, he wanted the woman who would be his wife with every beat of his heart.

"Hey."

He turned. She was standing just at the corner of the hall, a small smile on her face, her body clad in white, all the way down to her ankles. In her hand was the paperwork that they signed downstairs – the paperwork that would, among other things, legally change Paige's last name to O'Brien. "Hey."

"Are you ready?" She asked quietly, walking forward until she was just a pace in front of him.

"If you are," he said. "There's…there's still time if you…if you changed your mind."

She shook her head. "Walter, do you even know at this point, how many times you've almost died for me?"

"No," he said. He was telling the truth. He couldn't fathom keeping track of something like that – as if he was tallying up a score to make sure they would someday be even. He knew, every time he took a risk for her, that she'd do the same for him if their positions were reversed. Although he might say so publicly, that wasn't why he did it.

"I need you," she said. "Here, I mean. In the United States." She shook her head. "There's not much I wouldn't do to keep you here."

Her voice was low, intimate, making sure that no one could overhear. It sent a shiver up Walter's spine. "I uh…" he said, clearing his throat, "I can't tell you how much I…appreciate…this. What you're doing. I only hope they can be convinced that it's genuine."

She smiled. "It's you and me, Walter. We know each other. I think we can make it." His eyebrows ticked up a fraction. "Work," she said, furrowing her brow and clearing her own throat. "I think we can make it work – believable. Yes, make it believable." She gave a nod. "It'll be okay, Walter."

He frowned. She frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "I just…I seem to…for some reason…déjà vu, I guess I don't know why." He saw something – for a fleeting moment – in Paige's eyes that made him want to ask her what she was thinking about. He didn't. "You ready?"

"They haven't called us yet?"

"No." He looked down the hall. "They said four. It's five til. Sly and Cabe are in the restroom, but they'll be back in time."

"Okay." She grabbed his hand. "Let's sit down on that bench. When they come out to call us, they'll see us there. It'll be the judge's first impression of us as a couple." Leading him to the bench, Paige sat down, setting the paperwork down and smoothing her dress with one hand as she tugged him down with the other. "There you go," she said, with a tiny, quiet giggle. "Why are you so tense? It's going to be fine, I promise."

"Uh huh," he said. "What are you doing?" He asked in surprise when she scooted closer to him and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"I'm being affectionate," she said. "It's this thing that couples do."

Walter figured it would probably look good if he put his arm around her, so he shifted his weight, sliding his arm around her back and tugging her closer by the hip.

She felt good, cuddled up against him. He didn't have to imagine where she was or what she might be doing. And feeling her body heat permeating the layers of clothes between them was nice, a further reminder of just how close she was.

* * *

 _Just keep your eyes on me._

The words that Paige had whispered to him when they were walking toward the door swirled around in his head, blurring out whatever the judge was saying. He was too occupied following her instructions to listen to that guy go on and on about what a wonderful commitment they were about to make.

They were facing each other, holding hands, and she was looking at him with such unmistakable affection that Walter's heart hurt.

He wasn't over her. He would never be able to get over her. And today, he was marrying her, she was taking his name and in the eyes of the law, they were openly in love, making this commitment because they didn't ever want to be apart. He was _marrying_ Paige Dineen – and yet he was as far from being able to have her as he had been when she'd walked away from him the day they returned from Lake Tahoe.

The judge's voice grew louder, and it began to burn its way into Walter's brain as he kept staring, seeing nothing but Paige.

"May your love create a safe place for both of you on the journey that is life. May you continue to find ways to love and support each other as times change. It is the love that exists between you that brings us all here together on this joyous afternoon. May it grow deeper, and sweeter, and more precious with each passing year for the rest of your lives.

The words hurt so much Walter almost resented them.

"And now, do you, Walter, take Paige to be your life partner? To love and support, to talk to and share with, to listen to, to love and help and encourage? Do you take her as your lawfully wedded wife for today, tomorrow, and forever?"

Walter gulped, nodding. "I do."

"Do you, Paige, take Walter to be your life partner? To love and support, to talk to and share with, to listen to, to love and help and encourage? Do you take him as your lawfully wedded husband for today, tomorrow, and forever?"

He swore when she blinked, he saw a glint in her eyes that suggested tears. "I do."

"And now, the rings."

Sylvester jumped forward, fishing the box out of his pocket and handing them over.

"Repeat after me," the judge said.

Walter slid the ring slowly up Paige's finger as he repeated what the judge said, and stared down at his hand as she did the same for him. Then their eyes rose to each other again, and she gave him the tiniest of smiles.

"Walter and Paige," the judge said with a smile. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss!"

Cabe and Sylvester began to applaud.

Paige stepped closer, putting her hands on Walter's chest, and he slid his to her waist, angling his head down as she tipped hers to the side. His eidetic memory, in theory, should have prepared him for the kiss. He knew how her lips felt on his. He knew how she tasted. But when their lips met again, he instinctively pulled her close, kissing her tenderly, completely unprepared for how his elevated – and identified – feelings for her intensified everything to an almost overwhelming level.

He should pull back. It had to be glaringly, painfully obvious that he was starved for her kiss, that this wasn't something they did all the time, that they weren't a real couple but instead two people, one of whom felt affection for the other, and one of whom was hopelessly, irrecoverably in love.

But he couldn't. She was in his arms. He never wanted her to leave. He slid an arm up her back, bending her backward slightly, releasing her lips for the briefest instant to get a breath of air before capturing them again.

Sylvester hooted.

Walter broke the kiss, helping ease her back into a position where she could balance on her own, and they stared at each other. Her cheeks were pink, and they puffed out slightly as she let out a quick breath.

"Congratulations," the judge said, and disappeared through the door in the back of the room.

Just like that, the wedding was over.

* * *

"I think we sold that pretty well," Paige said, walking out of the bathroom in her pajamas.

They were in a hotel room, a ten hour wait before they had to be at the airport to fly to the little island in the Great Lakes that would be their brief honeymoon – Paige didn't want to leave Ralph for long. "For God's sake," Cabe had said as they departed. "Take more convincing pictures this time, would you, kid?"

The hotel room was nice. It wasn't fancy, not like the place that they'd be in for the next week, but it was spacious, with a large bed and a sofa that probably could turn into a sleeper. The TV was gigantic – probably close to five feet long – and, Paige had noted with delight, the tub in the bathroom had a jet.

Walter was closing the drapes, and turned to look at her. "Yeah," he said. "I think…I think the judge would…would testify to believing that there were, uh, real, real feelings there."

"The kiss," she said. "You, uh, you really put forward some effort there."

"Was it too much?"

"No," she said, quickly. "It was convincing."

"Good. I had been uh." He frowned. "Worried. About that."

Their conversation on the forty minute drive to the hotel had been easy, about work, about Ralph, about the names Happy and Toby were throwing around for their baby. But now that they were here…

"Well, at least now we're alone," she said, tugging at the last few pins in her hair. Walter's eyes shot up from where he was staring off into the distance, meeting hers. "I – I mean," she stammered, "since we're alone, we don't have to worry about anything. We don't have to…act. We can just be ourselves, colleagues, friends."

"Yeah," he said.

She stepped closer to him. "No need to put on a show."

"Uh – huh."

They stared at each other for what had to be nearly a full minute, and Paige cleared her throat, blinking rapidly a few times. "Though, uh," she said, "we…they're bound to ask us questions. In the interviews. Intimate…questions…" she stepped a tiny bit closer, looking deep into his eyes. "That…if we can't answer…"

"They'll, uh," he said, "know that…that the marriage is…"

"Uh – huh," she said, quietly, almost under her breath. They were standing close; she could smell him, and her nostrils flared slightly. "In order for this to work we'll, uh, have to get our stories straight."

"We can discuss…what we'll say to them," Walter agreed, his voice barely audible, lips hardly moving as he spoke.

"Okay," she said softly. They stared at each other, eyes flickering down to lips and back again, back and forth, back and forth, back…

She felt him stagger backward a step or two when she moved forward, mashing her lips against his and pushing against him with her entire body. Her hands came up to his face, pressing against his skin as she held him in place, moaning into his mouth as he pressed his hands to her hips and held her right against him.

Paige's knees felt weak as Walter returned the kiss with a ferocity that she didn't know he had within him for something like this. She traced his lip with her tongue, asking for access, and he gave it, gladly, his own tongue beginning to explore. Everything he was doing felt so incredibly good and she couldn't help the loud moan that vibrated it's way out of the back of her throat – or was that _his_ moan she was feeling reverberated through her body? Maybe, she thought, they were both, simultaneously, responsible for the sounds.

This wasn't part of the plan. Paige didn't care. She pushed against Walter's chest and he took another step backward, then another, until the backs of his legs hit the sofa and his momentum dropped him backward until he was sitting on the couch.

Paige dropped down, straddling him.

* * *

 **As I said in my A/N at the top - I may just cut to later, or the next chapter may have smut. If it does, this fic will be moved to the M category and therefore will not show up in the defaulted list of fics. So if you like it, you may want to click the 'follow story' button at the bottom of the screen so you'll be notified when I update.**

 **As always, authors love reviews!**


	2. Wedding Night

**Okay, so I mentioned in my A/N last chapter that I wasn't sure if this fic would have smut so anyone who wanted to could follow the story could make sure they'd be able to find it if the rating changed. What ended up happening was a poll of sorts taking place in reviews as to what sort of content chapter two should have – not what I was going for, but I appreciate y'all's input, haha. Anyway, you've seen the rating has changed, so if smut isn't your thing, you may want to hit that back button now.**

* * *

Paige tightened her fingers around his curls, sucking at his bottom lip and running her tongue along the outside, feeling his hands slide around to her bottom. She pressed backward, against his hands, as her tongue continued to tangle furiously with his.

Immigration would ask. They would get personal, determined to find a crack in the marriage, a sign that none of this was real. But as they continued to kiss, as he moaned into her mouth and followed her as she tilted her head to the side so the kiss wouldn't break, she realized that _she wanted him_ and she knew that long before she agreed to marry him.

Paige pulled back, swinging her leg back over him and kneeling beside him on the couch, quickly wiggling out of her pants as he pulled off his shirt. Before he could do anything else, she straddled him again, kissing his neck and pressing her hips down. The pajama pants she'd packed had been decidedly unsexy – at least in the conventional sense – made of thick flannel, and she whimpered as she pressed back down on to him, needing nothing between them but not wanting to break the contact they did have again, so soon, so he could take off his pants and so both of them could remove their underwear. She rocked her hips, grinding down on him frantically, whining again in agitation.

Walter groaned against her lips. " _Paige_ ," he managed, continuing to kiss her with the almost overwhelming intensity that had nearly rendered her unable to stand at City Hall. His kisses had a tendency to do that, she realized, thinking back on their admittedly limited history on that subject. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, kissing her as if they were on a mission with millions of lives in the balance. She hadn't been kissed like this in…well…

 _Ever._ "Walter," she said, tearing her lips away. He responded by grunting, pushing himself into a standing position and carrying her the few feet to the bed, settling her down on the edge of it. He stayed standing, undoing his belt and letting his pants drop to the floor.

Then he was over her, kissing her again, working his hips between her legs, and she didn't stop him, lifting her legs and wrapping them around him. Pressing her heels against his hips, she tried to push his boxers down. No luck. She whimpered again in frustration.

Walter's hand hooked around her underwear and she dropped her legs from around him, letting him pull them down her legs. In almost the same motion, his boxers were tossed on the pile of clothes on the floor.

He settled back between her hips put his lips firmly back on hers, sliding his other hand under her hips as he pushed inside her. She grunted, wrapping an arm around his neck and, realizing that she hadn't taken off her pajama top, grabbed one of his hands and slid it under the flannel and up to one of her breasts. She felt him grunt as he continued to thrust into her, pushing deeper until she completely surrounded him.

Her eyes rolled back as she lifted her hips, pushing her head and shoulders harder against the mattress. _Oh God_ , it all felt so good. "Yes," she breathed, her eyes falling closed, hearing the grunts that accompanied each of his breaths. "Oh God," she gasped, rocking her hips vigorously along with his thrusts. "Oh God. Oh God."

She was already clenching around him and as he began to thrust faster, clearly near the end already himself, and Paige put a hand, on top of her pajama shirt, over one of her breasts, squeezing her nipple through the flannel, and moaning loudly as he hit just the right spot two, three, four times, causing her to contract further around him while the rest of her went limp as she came apart.

Paige wasn't sure how long it was – though it couldn't have been more than half a minute – before he stilled, his hips against hers, a groan escaping his lips just an inch from her ear.

His breath was hot and fast against her neck as he panted, struggling to regain some form of control. She instinctually wrapped her arms around his neck, tipping her head so her cheek rested against him, opening her mouth to soothe him…but the sound that very nearly escaped her lips wasn't words, but a sorrowful cry as she slowly came back to herself.

 _It shouldn't have happened._

Walter rolled off her, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. She saw his chest moving, saw the glint of sweat on his skin, saw how he put his hands over his face in what she was sure was an attempt to block everything out so he could calm down.

She'd let it happen. No, she'd _initiated it_. And when she'd briefly realized, when they were still on the couch, that they were about to make a mistake, when she'd pulled away and said his name and he'd responded by moving them both to the bed, she hadn't said no. She should have. She should have pulled back, stood up, said that they shouldn't. She knew they were getting away from themselves and she didn't do the responsible thing.

 _It shouldn't have happened._

She'd let it happen because she wanted him. Because she'd wanted to do what they'd just done so much she physically ached.

He couldn't handle that. Toby was right, he was terrible with things like this and they overwhelmed him and…

Walter loved her. He didn't know she knew, and Paige had no idea if that made it better or worse. For him, it probably didn't matter. He was a man who couldn't process emotion and wasn't used to dealing with feeling things so strongly, and whether he knew that she knew how he felt about her or not, this was bound to be downright _harmful_ for him.

 _It shouldn't have happened._ She'd been so selfish. _I have memories of us that he doesn't. It's not right._

She sat up, finger combing her hair, suddenly panicking. "I'm…I'm s-sorry," she stammered, jumping out of bed and reaching for her pants.

"No." Walter was still laying on his back, his hands over his face. "No, no I'm sorry. I…"

"Don't apologize I…we…" she held a hand out, palm up, and made a sweeping motion across the room. "Hey, we…if immigration asks us…I mean…we know. Now. Right?"

His hands still covered his face. "Uh huh."

"Walter, please look at me."

He did, sitting up, and God, oh God, she couldn't read what was happening in his eyes but something was there, something complex, she'd done this to him, it was her fault…

"Walter, it…we…" She looked at the door. "I'll get another room. They're not busy tonight, we got in late, if they were almost sold out they wouldn't have had enough flexibility to ask for our floor preference."

"Paige."

"You're right. We can't. Spending our wedding night apart? This thing will fall apart before it even starts. I…uh…" Her eyes fell on the couch. _The sofa bed._ "Pull out!"

Walter looked frantic. "Oh God."

"What?"

"Protection."

A silence followed as they stared at each other in horror, Paige feeling the blood drain from her face. "Oh…God."

"Target, Walmart, Walgreens…" Walter said quickly, jumping up and reaching for his clothes. "They'd…Target is probably closed, Walmart is twenty four hours, isn't it?"

Paige stepped back, falling onto the sofa and putting her head in her hands, her elbows digging into her knees. _I'm a horrible person, I'm a horrible person, I'm a horrible person…_

"Hey. _Paige_."

He dropped down in front of her, she could see him through her hands, she could see the love he had for her in his eyes, _I took advantage of him_. "Please just go to sleep, Walter."

"Are you okay?"

 _Are you okay?_ He wasn't okay. Not after this. _Happy warned me years ago about messing with his head. Well if this isn't the epitome._ "We have a flight in the morning, Walter. I'll sleep here."

"No, I will."

She dropped her hands, looking at him without obstruction. "No. You don't sleep as well as I do. You should have the bed."

"No, let me sleep here. I'm used to sleeping in less than favorable conditions."

"No, Walter."

"How about this?" Walter raised his eyebrows. "We _both_ sleep in the bed."

That _was_ the initial plan, anyway. She sighed. "Okay."

He nodded, smiling at her the kind of smile that was less about real joy and more satisfaction that they'd reached a common ground.

He stood up. "So…do you have a side, or…"

"Left."

"Okay." Walking around the bed, Walter climbed in, pulling the covers around him. Paige slid into the other side, rolling on her back away from him, pressing her thumb and middle finger against her eyes and tucking her chin to her chest in an effort to hold back tears of regret.

* * *

Walter reached over and turned off the lamp that was providing the remaining light. Bathed in darkness, he stared up toward the ceiling.

He should have stopped it.

He knew they were getting caught up, he knew they were rushing toward something they weren't going to be able to stop, Hell, when she'd stopped to take her pants off he could have jumped up, he could have said that they shouldn't, but he wanted her so badly and he loved her so much and she was showing signs of wanting him too and then her body was on his again and he didn't say no.

Every second of what happened was already burned into his memory, a memory that was both a blessing and a curse, when it came to her.

He pulled the second pillow from behind his head and hugged it to his chest. It shouldn't have happened – not like that.

In all the times he'd fantasized about the two of them being together, it was never like that.

He wanted to worship her, to undress her slowly, kiss her lips, her jawline, her neck, her throat, her _everywhere_. He wanted to run his hands slowly over her body, making her shudder and feel safe at the same time. He wanted to learn everything about her, what made her tremble, gasp, moan, writhe. He wanted to care for her afterward, rub her thighs, brush her hair back, and make sure she was okay. He wanted to hold her close, whisper in her ear how wonderful she was, and feel her body slowly grow heavier on his arm as she surrendered to sleep.

Tonight hadn't been like that at all. Tonight had been hard and fast, fulfilling in only the very basic sense of the act. He knew that was fine – couples had nights like that all the time, but…

 _We will never do it again._ Tonight was a fluke, a result of a full day of playacting, an apparent logical next step in the game that was over and done with now.

The only memory he'd ever have was the crushing regret of allowing them to get away from themselves.

He buried his face in the pillow. He couldn't let her hear him cry.


	3. Honeymoon

"You know," Walter commented, "the peak season for this island is summer, obviously, because they get a ton of snow and ice here in the wintertime. It's not snowing yet, obviously, but I read that it's almost as if we'll have the entire island to ourselves this time of year."

"Nice," Paige said. "Less witnesses. Easier to fake."

Walter frowned as he looked down at the papers he'd printed off. "Yeah. Exactly."

They were on the ferry that would take them to the island where they'd spend the next week. "Kind of weird to be going North for a honeymoon at this time of year," Cabe had commented. But the hotel they were staying at was old, expensive, and romantic, and Walter's logic had been it would look as if they'd chosen it for its relative seclusion at the end of tourist season, and that, logically, newlyweds would want to have a lot of time to be alone. There was also a lot of history on the island, and his bride _loved_ history. Of course he would want to take her someplace where she would be happy.

If anyone argued that it was abnormal, Walter would point out that _he_ wasn't normal, and he never had been.

Paige had been mostly silent. Not the entire morning, no, she was very chatty as they'd prepared to go to the airport, and in the car. Walter knew her well enough to know that nerves were what was driving her average words per minute up, a need to keep filling what else would be an uncomfortable silence.

But once they'd gotten on the plane, all of that had been abandoned in favor of a near silent four and a half hour flight to Detroit. She'd stood close to him in baggage claim upon his reminder that there were cameras, letting him put an arm around her waist and pressing her shoulder and hip against him. But once they were on their next flight to Pellston, she'd grown quiet again, not reading, not listening to music, just tucking her head to her chest and closing her eyes.

She looked miserable, guilty even, and Walter didn't understand why.

Now that they were on the ferry, she was sitting in a chair by the window, staring out at…he'd lost his bearings, whatever lake was on the left side. Walter approached her hesitantly. "Do you want to go sit on the top deck?" He asked.

Paige shrugged. "Yeah, if you want."

"I'm asking if you want."

She shrugged again. "Sure. Why not."

"Come on." He waited until she got to her feet before climbing the stairs. The ferry was already moving, and he sent her up first, hoping she wouldn't slip and fall but ready to catch her if she did.

"It's kinda chilly out here," she commented, pulling her coat more tightly around her as they sat down.

"Come here, then," Walter said, sliding one of his arms around her and pulling her close. She stiffened slightly – only for a moment – and then relaxed against him, her head on his shoulder. "See? That's better."

"Yeah. Uh – huh."

He looked around. They weren't the only ones up top, but the two older women at the other end of the deck didn't seem to be interested in making conversation with the younger couple.

"Leave them alone, Abby," Walter overhead, barely, in the wind. "I hear they're on their honeymoon."

Good. They definitely wouldn't be coming over here.

"Paige…can we talk?"

She gave a deep sigh, one that might sound angry with him if he didn't know her, but one that he recognized as conflicted. "Talk about what?"

He bit his lower lip, glad that the way she was cuddled up to him, she couldn't see his face. "Well, things have been…uncomfortable, since last night, and…" he shifted his weight. "You're really important to me. Paige. I don't want…I don't like the silence."

"I don't either," she said, lifting her head to look at him. "I just…I feel…"

His eyebrows shot up. "What?" _You feel what?_

She sighed. "Nothing. I mean…not nothing just…last night was a mistake and I didn't stop it."

He shook his head vigorously. "I should have…"

"No, no," Paige said. "Do not do that. You don't have all of the information."

He cocked his head. "What does that mean?"

She looked at him, pressing her lips together, her eyes searching his. Then, "Never mind."

* * *

Each room in the hotel was uniquely designed – part of the $1400 a night price tag that they were paying to stay, and Walter watched as Paige wandered through the suite, her eyes wide as she took it all in. Despite the palpable awkwardness between the two of them – that had endured through lunch and the carriage ride and probably showed in the photos they'd taken – Walter saw a small flush to her skin as she cooed over the accommodations.

The place was incredibly romantic and Walter didn't want to be there. Not when they wouldn't be doing anything about it. Possibly, had last night not happened, he wouldn't feel so strongly about this, they could ignore the ambiance, talk to each other, God, he loved talking to her, and then he could fall asleep next to her and wake up the following morning to enjoy their day.

But last night _had_ happened, and the incredible guilt and regret that Walter had discovered he wasn't capable of pushing out of his mind, as he could do with most other things, made him wish he could make it up to her now. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her tenderly, he wanted to do that so badly that his heart physically ached, and show her that _that_ was the person that she made him, the person that he wanted to be for her.

She had committed herself to him, changed her name for him, was doing all of this just so he wouldn't be deported and dammit, she deserved to be rewarded for it in any way he could.

"It's all so beautiful," she gushed, walking over to him. "I didn't know places like this still existed in this country."

He hadn't either, until he'd researched cozy romantic getaways like an idiot.

"I'm glad you like it," he said. "Because we're going to be here for the next six days."

* * *

They were not permitted to be downstairs after five in the evening unless they were dressed black tie, and Paige clung to Walter's hand as they walked into the dining area, feeling like she might topple over without his support.

She'd selected her gowns for these meals a week before the wedding, saying that her choices were based on what a newly married woman would want to wear while on her honeymoon. But when she'd stepped out in this one, when Walter saw her and looked at her as if he never wanted to direct his eyes anywhere else, Paige realized that that hadn't been her only motivation in choosing it.

She'd _wanted_ that reaction from him. She'd picked all of the dresses – and she'd known from the start that this was the one she was going to wear first – with the intention of making his brain short circuit, making him stutter and stammer as he searched for words with which to tell her how she looked. The way he said _stunning_ always made her nearly lose her balance. Combine it with the way he looked at her and her ability to hear his breathing despite his obvious attempts to appear in control and she knew she'd stumble if she let go of his hand.

It didn't help that he looked so good in his tux.

 _What am I doing?_

Why was she insisting on making all of this more difficult for him?

The five course meal was delicious, Paige was sure, but she barely tasted any of it. Walter was talking to her, discussing the history of the hotel, the dignitaries that had stayed there and else ware on the island, and the events that take place yearly in the area. She appreciated his obvious efforts to discuss topics that he knew she was interested in – he must have done a lot of research in picking the location despite the short turnaround – and she smirked to herself when she realized he was purposefully avoiding any discussion of the island's significant _military_ history. The conversation was pleasant, and although she couldn't shake the guilt no matter how hard she tried, she was glad that this wasn't more time they were passing in awkward silence.

But then it was time for bed, and Paige felt the dread seeping into her as she changed out of the gown, hung it up, and slipped into her unfortunately sexy looking nightwear. She'd packed it out of fear that Immigration might show up on their trip and search her bags, although she realized now that that was highly unlikely. She couldn't wear what she'd worn the previous night, but…but it'd be wrong to wear this, wouldn't it?

Her only other option was to put her jeans and the top she'd worn earlier in the day back on and sleep like that, and _that_ would look terrible and probably make Walter feel worse.

She grabbed a towel. "Walter?" She called. "Are you in bed?" She knew even before he answered that he wasn't. She'd gone into the bathroom first. "Okay. I'll be out in a sec, can you…can you not look? Oh, never mind," she said, this time not waiting for his answer. She wrapped the towel around her, stepping out of the bathroom, realizing when she fell into his line of sight that she'd made a terrible mistake. "Oh, I'm not…" she opened the towel, completely abandoning her initial reason for wrapping herself in it in the first place.

Walter looked away – probably realizing that her appearance was the reason she'd initially asked him not to look, despite her immediate retraction – but not before she saw his lips move slightly, and based on the tension she could see in his jaw, she realized the quiet word he'd uttered was more than likely _dammit._

She put the towel back around her. "Bathroom is free."

She crawled into the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and then covering her face with her hands, stifling an agitated whine. She was wound. She knew the previous night had been a mistake and she knew it was her fault but that didn't mean that as soon as he came to bed she didn't want to pull him on top of her and make the same mistake all over again. _Just because I want to doesn't mean I will._

"What?"

Paige jumped. "What?"

Walter raised his eyebrows. "You were saying something."

"Oh. Thinking out loud, I guess."

He looked down at her, the concern evident in his eyes. "Are you okay, Paige?"

"Yeah. Totally. Uh huh."

"Are you sure? You don't look okay. Is there anything I can do?"

Paige almost laughed out loud.

At her silence, Walter walked around to the other side of the bed and eased under the covers. "Paige, I just don't want us to be distant."

She rolled on her side. "Me either."

"I know that in the grand scheme of things," Walter said, and she could hear the hesitation in his voice, "very few things actually matter." He held her gaze for a long moment before continuing. "You matter to me. I don't want last night to be the beginning of an end."

She gave a tiny nod. "I don't want that either."

"So…can we just enjoy the rest of the week? As…as friends? As people who matter to each other?"

She slipped her hand into his. "I'd really like that."

* * *

 **They're both sort of working against each other emotionally right now. He's trying to be extra sweet with her because he thinks she deserves nothing but after his failure to be romantic the night before, and she thinks that he's acting the way he is because they slept together and he loves her and can't handle his emotions. They both think they've failed the other, he's too scared to explicitly state what's bothering him, she doesn't feel she can say what's bothering her because of the fact that he doesn't know what happened when he was in space. It's going to get more complicated before it finally gets better, but it will! So stay tuned, and as always, authors love reviews. Some of us even jump in our seats and squeal when we see a notification of a new one.**


	4. Back To Reality

**Sorry for going a couple of days between updates. Having CFS sucks.**

 **There's gonna be time jumps in this fic. Initially it was going to take place over two years, but I decided to go the expedition route that the show is going and it's going to take place over a little less than a year.**

* * *

"Oh my God," Toby said, leaning over the table and staring down at the album. "these are almost worse than the Quinn – O'Brien photos."

"No, no," Paige protested. "These are a million times better. Look."

Four Walters and four Paige's smiled up at them from the open page of the honeymoon album. In the first one, they sat next to each other on the rocking chairs on the porch of the hotel, smiling for whoever was taking the photo. "You're not touching," Toby said. "Not even holding hands. You guys have held hands a million times."

"You don't have to touch someone every second you're married to them," Walter said.

"You and I were married for six years and only touched for about a second _total_ ," Happy said.

Walter pointed toward her. "Exactly!"

"We are touching each other in all of the other ones," Paige said. "See?"

She pointed to the second, third, and fourth photos in the spread. One was both of them in the carriage, her head on his shoulder. The other two were selfies, taken at various places around the island. In one, Paige was leaning against Walter's chest, both of them smiling for the camera, and in the other, he was kissing her temple, her eyes closed as they stood with the lake behind them.

Tucked behind it was a fifth photo, one that the rest of the group didn't see. It was one that Walter had taken of Paige with her arms wrapped around the horse that had pulled their carriage. He wasn't even sure if she knew that he'd taken it.

"See?" Paige said again. "We look like a real couple."

"Yeah," Toby said. "Maybe I'm just paranoid."

"We're _all_ a little paranoid," Sylvester said, shooting him a look.

"I just…" Toby shrugged. "I guess…I thought…oh well."

"You thought what?" Walter asked, frowning.

"I _said_ oh well," Toby said. "So have you guys decided how else you're doing this? Like…living arrangements?"

"I have to talk to Ralph before we finalize those plans," Paige said. "Before the wedding, he and I had a long talk about if he understood what was happening and why, but there hasn't been a living arrangement conversation yet. The plan is he will spend some nights in our apartment, and sometimes he'll stay here – we'll say work just kept him late. But if Ralph isn't comfortable with Walter sleeping over at our place, we'll figure something out." She looked at her phone. "I have to go pick him up from Daniel's. Or…should we both go?"

"I…uh…I think the three of us should go out to dinner later," Walter said.

"So…we're not both going now."

"I just…I have things to work on. Unless…will that look suspicious?"

"No, no," Paige said. "I mean, he's my son, I haven't seen him in a week, we'd love some alone time. So I uh…I guess I'll see you guys later?"

"Actually…" Happy stood up. "Do…what if…"

Paige smiled. "You can come with."

"Cool." Happy slid off the desk and followed Paige toward the door.

"See you later, guys," Paige said again.

"Yeah," Toby said. "Sounds good." He watched her exit the garage, then turned to Walter. "Dude, what _happened_?"

* * *

"Not good."

"Yeah," Paige sighed, pushing a lock of hair back behind her ear as she glanced in the rearview mirror and switched lanes. "Yeah, I know."

She had expected to spend the drive to Cabe's answering hesitant questions about parenthood, not unloading on her about what had happened the night after the wedding. But the proverbial weight on her shoulders was so great that as soon as the mechanic had made the vaguest of comments about how she and Walter were acting back at the garage, she had spilled every detail.

"You…you don't think you'll find yourself in my position though?" Happy gestured vaguely at her stomach.

"We went to Walmart the following morning and I took something. And I'm on the pill anyway. Which I know doesn't prevent… _other_ issues, but I don't have anything and he'd tell me if he did."

"He hasn't had many opportunities to contract that sort of problem, you know," Happy said. "He lost it to a hooker when he was twenty five and then the only other woman was Janice. And that relationship barely lasted longer than that whatever it was he had with Linda, which _definitely_ was not sexual." She grew quiet. "So it's been awkward your whole honeymoon, then."

"It was the first day, and...sometimes afterward, but we've gotten back to a really nice place where we...I thought you didn't like talking about other people's personal lives."

"I don't," she said. "That should tell you how concerned I am. I've cared about Walter for a long time. And I care what happens to you and the kid, too. And this is complicated and I hope you guys can work it out because he's not going to be able to handle this when it's you."

"Yeah, you think I don't know that? Happy?" Paige asked, feeling a prickle of annoyance. "I may not be a genius, but I know how emotionally taxing this is going to be – that this _already is_ – on him. I wish it hadn't happened. The sex, I mean. But it did, and we have to deal with it. I just don't know how the whole…hypoxia thing factors into it all."

"Because as far as we know, he doesn't remember any of that."

"Exactly." Paige turned down Cabe's street. "And I don't know how I'm going to handle that when he does."

* * *

"Well, I think this is what the normal people in society would call…" Toby paused for dramatic effect. "A bit of a situation."

"You took a pause for _that_?" Sylvester asked.

"It's just…it's been hard." Walter shrugged, feeling awkward admitting it. But they'd been probing him for information for the better part of a half hour, and if he was honest with himself, it was a bit of a relief to talk about it. "At least when I was married to Happy, there wasn't anything real about it. We didn't have feelings for each other. With her…" he looked toward her desk.

"With her it's different," Sylvester said said. "Because you love her. And you never let yourself believe she would ever be your wife because coming out of that particular fantasy would be too painful. And now she is, and she has been, but you can't do all the things most husbands and wives do because you aren't actually in a relationship."

Walter nodded, starting to slowly wander off toward his desk. "Yeah. It's just…"

"It's real," Sylvester said quietly, giving that understanding nod that always reminded the group that he was often the wisest one there. "And yet it's not. But it is."

"He didn't seem to care what was real and what wasn't when he was in space," Toby muttered under his breath, a small smirk on his face. Then, the behaviorist froze, lifting his head slowly to stare in horror at first Sylvester, then Walter.

"Dude," Sylvester said under his breath, his eyes wide.

Walter frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," the others said in unison. Toby cleared his throat, adding, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What do you mean, _he didn't seem to care what was real and what wasn't when he was in space_?" Walter narrowed his eyes. "You guys told me I was just floating around."

"You were floating around," Sylvester said quickly. "You were definitely floating around."

"What does that have to do with…Toby, for the love of God."

"Okay," Toby said, standing up and straightening out his hat. "You weren't…you weren't completely yourself. Okay? We had to get you to pull this lever, but you were too…you weren't all there. So Paige talked to you through the coms and got you to do it."

"Why would you keep something like _that_ from me?" Walter asked. "She's talked me through things before, it's…"

The door opened and Ralph appeared, running across the room. "Hi, Walt!"

"Hey, buddy," he said dropping down to eye level with the boy. "How was your week?"

"Good. I'm glad you and my mom are home. She says you're going to sleep over at our place tonight. Can we play my new game?"

"Of course," Walter said, running a hand through the boy's hair. "That sounds great." He looked up to where Happy and Paige had rejoined the others. "Hey, uh, Paige? Can I…can I talk to you? For a shuttle – I mean – a second?"

"Yeah," she said, shrugging off her coat and dropping it at her desk as she walked over. "What's up?"

"Uh, a little more not by them." He turned, gesturing toward her, asking that she follow him. Leading her into the kitchen, Walter stopped, turned to face her, and crossed his arms. "Okay."

"Something wrong?"

"No, no, I just…I need to ask you something."

"Okay." She cocked her head. "What is it?"

"What happened when I was in space?"

A slightly high pitched "wh – what do you mean?" broke the silence that followed.

"I mean, Toby said today you had to talk to me to get me to help you all save me."

Paige turned her head in the general direction of the aforementioned team member, narrowing her eyes. "Did he now?"

"But he was acting…weird about it. And you know how my worst fear is…is losing control of a situation I'm in, and it's always bothered me a little bit, you know, that I don't have much of a memory of that day, but…" he shook his head. "Now that I know I was _talking_ during that part…and he said something about something not being real…"

"Okay," Paige nodded. "You're right. Toby is, I mean. You were a little loopy. You were talking about Baked Alaska. You said it was the most scientifically interesting dessert."

Walter nodded. "M – makes sense. I mean. That does sound like me."

"Yeah, exactly!" Paige agreed enthusiastically. "Yeah, so, I guess that you thought, you know," she gave a small chuckle, "that instead of me talking to you through the coms, that I was actually _in_ the shuttle with you. So I told you that we should go home and make the Baked Alaska, but the only way to do that was to pull on this lever. So you did."

"Huh." Walter nodded. "Okay, well…that certainly explains why I was thinking about the Baked Alaska when I woke up in the hospital."

"Yeah, exactly. So…that's what Toby was talking about. I couldn't understand that you weren't in the shuttle talking to me, but were back at Mission Control. That makes sense. My brain had probably shrunk my world down to pretty specific things, and hearing your voice, well, logically that meant you were standing in front of me telling me to pull the lever instead of me hearing you through a com system."

"Yep," Paige said, nodding. "Exactly."

"I don't understand why no one thought they could tell me this before, though," Walter admitted. "I mean, that's nothing uh…dreadful."

"I think Toby – well, all of us – were just worried that it might be a bit of a…of a shock to you, so I talked to Ralph," she said in a rush. "He's okay with you sleeping over, as long as…as long as you wouldn't think it'd be too weird."

"No," Walter said. "We managed it for six nights on the island. Home will be no different, plus, you know, our case worker could always come and check up on us. Oh…" he hesitated. "The Baked Alaska…we can…we can do that, make it, if you want. It would be a nice addition to the photo album," he added.

She took a long time in answering, then gave a slow nod. "Sure," she said carefully. "Let's do that sometime."

"Just us?"

Walter couldn't remember the time he'd so non - chalantly asked a question, but Paige instantly paled. He leaned foward, putting his hands on her sides. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She grunted, clearing her throat. "Yeah. Yep. Fine. Baked Alaska. Shall we say this weekend?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now I gotta...I gotta go...grocery shopping. There's nothing in the fridge at home." She turned on her heel and was gone.

Walter stared after her, confused. Then, shrugging, he headed back toward his friends.


	5. Christmas

**I finished my outline for this fic yesterday and it'll be ten chapters in total. This chapter takes place end of December, then the next will be a little over a month later. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you guys are absolutely the best.**

* * *

"Come on, it's Christmas, we gotta get a picture of you guys under mistletoe. That's like, the ultimate couple cliché."

Walter cocked his head, glancing at Paige. "I thought the thing about mistletoe is you're supposed to find yourself under it accidentally."

Toby thought about that for a moment. "No."

"They do it that way in movies," Sylvester said.

"Doesn't matter, Rudolph," Toby said, holding up the camera. "Come on, Walter, Paige, get under that threshold."

"Will you _please_ stop calling me Rudolph?"

"When that red nose of yours goes back to its normal color."

"So I had an allergic reaction to the adhesive on my snowman costume," Sylvester said. "Ha – ha. Rudolph. Very funny."

"Come on, Walter," Paige said, tugging on his sleeve. He sighed, nodding, and let her lead him to the mistletoe.

"There we go," Toby said. "Then we'll have to get one of me and the missus."

"You think we can both fit turned sideways in that doorway?" Happy said, running her pointer fingers over her stomach.

"You can turn sideways."

Walter glanced up as he and Paige positioned themselves under the mistletoe, making sure he was directly below it. Despite her earlier encouragement, Paige seemed hesitant now that they were there. She drew her lower lip under slightly, looking at him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said quietly. Too quietly. "Yeah."

"Do you want me to count down, or..."

She shook her head, and he saw a hint of laughter in her eyes. Smiling, he put his hands on her cheeks and leaned in, capturing her lips with his. He felt her hold him around the waist, pulling him closer. She'd been eating pine nuts earlier and her taste was tinged with pine. Walter thought it was kind of trippy.

"There we go," he said with a smile when their lips separated. She smiled back at him.

"Aw, crap."

They turned to look at Toby. "What's the matter?" Paige asked.

"I didn't get the picture."

Walter cocked his head. "Huh?"

"I was...I was watching you guys. I forgot to take the picture." Toby held the camera up to his face. "Do it again."

"O...kay," Paige said, wiping her mouth on her sleeve and nodding at the behaviorist. Turning back to Walter, she raised her eyebrows. "Take two?"

"Uh. Sure." He certainly wasn't going to complain about kissing her, but...

The past six weeks had been easy. He'd long been contenting himself with just being around her, something he'd enjoyed immensely from the day they'd met, and now that he was going home with her almost every night, he was around her almost all the time. They'd completely moved past the awkwardness that was their first few days of marriage, and it felt like he had her back again, the Paige that made him so happy just to talk to.

He still loved her. He still loved her so much sometimes it hurt when he couldn't fall asleep and laid awake next to her, hearing her breathing, feeling her body heat trapped under their shared comforter, but he was learning to be contented with their closeness, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't incredibly satisfying to know that they spent more time together than with anyone else.

But the more they did things like this, the more they had to act like a couple in love for the cameras, or for their Immigration case worker, who was dropping by more and more often as the case was expedited, the harder it was to ignore the intense desire he had to be with her in a completely real sense. He wanted to kiss her, not just under the mistletoe. He wanted to hold her when it wasn't for the photo album. He wanted to have more than one primal encounter with her to draw from when talking about their intimate life.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Cabe asked, walking into the room. "We ready to get this party started?" He looked at Walter and Paige. "Ah, staged mistletoe pictures. Nice. And he-he-hey, what's up with Rudolph here?"

"Okay," Sylvester said, heading back toward the main area of the garage, where the party would be. "I'll be out there when you guys are done."

"We're almost there," Toby said. "Just got to get a couple good ones of the O'Briens smooching under the romantic plant. Walter," he said after a moment, "that's your cue."

He leaned in again, brushing his lips gently along Paige's. She caught his lower lip between hers, running her teeth gently along it, making him moan ever so quietly into her mouth. The piney taste was elevated, but he was starting to think that the high wasn't from that. She slid her arms around his neck, stepping closer, and he wrapped his around her waist. _A hug and a kiss. Simultaneously. Efficient, and Immigration will eat it up._

He heard the clicks of the camera, but took an extra moment before pulling away.

* * *

The team had decided to take a week off between Christmas and New Year's, "and cross your fingers the world doesn't need us and we _actually_ get the week off," Cabe had said when they were finished cleaning up the Christmas party.

Just three days later and they were together again, but Paige thought to herself, thankfully, it wasn't because of a planetary crisis.

No. This reason was much better.

"They said it wouldn't be too long now," Sylvester said. "Last we heard, she was almost ready to push."

"That can take a long time, though," Paige said. "When I was pregnant with Ralph, they said that part averages over an hour for first time mothers."

"How long did Ralph take?" He asked. "Once you got to this part, I mean."

"Just under an hour. Though if you asked Drew what my answer would be, he'd probably say 'four days' because that's what it felt like."

Sylvester shook his head. "Poor Happy."

"Just wait until she sees him," Paige said. "Every second of this will be worth it. You're too busy wondering what in the world you're going to do with all this new love you feel that you didn't know you had the capacity to possess. That can be incredibly overwhelming but when you know that little baby is your outlet and you can pour all that love into him, you've never been more grateful to be overwhelmed."

"Any news?"

Paige jumped as Walter re – entered the waiting room, suddenly very glad that he hadn't been there for her conversation with Sly. "No. Nothing since we saw Toby last."

"It's been almost two hours."

"We know." Paige patted the seat next to her. "Come sit down and relax. It's going to be fine."

Walter dropped down next to her, exhaling loudly. His foot began to tap nervously. "Hey." Paige put a hand on his knee, pressing down to stop the drumming. "She's going to be fine. People do this every day, you know."

"I know," Walter said, folding his hands and staring off into space.

"I'm nervous too," Sylvester told his brother. He sighed. "She's one of ours."

"Toby!" Paige said – or rather, nearly shrieked – when she saw the behaviorist come through the door. "Oh my God, what..."

He gave them all a big grin. "I'm a dad."

Paige flung herself in his direction, causing him to stagger backward, and before she could release him from the embrace she felt Walter and Sly piling on, giving their congratulations. "Oh my gosh," she said. "How's Happy?"

"She's...she's great. She's incredible, she..." he was shaking his head. "I've seen women give birth before but...it's all so much more amazing when it's your person, you know?" He smiled. "God, I love her so much."

"Tell us about Junior!" Sly said, slapping Toby on the back.

"Where's Cabe?"

"He's down in cardiology. I guess a patient there is one of his old colleagues and he hasn't had any visitors," Paige said. "I'm texting him right now so he'll be up soon. But come on, tell us about him!"

"Well, firstly," Toby said. "We were wrong about that."

Walter and Sly cocked their heads, but Paige understood. "You have a daughter."

"Yep." He nodded. "I don't know what they were seeing on the ultrasounds but...but it's definitely not what they thought it was. Usually mistakes are made the other way, you know, you think it's a girl and then nope, surprise! But not this time."

"So, what?" Sly asked with a smirk. "Tobette Merriweather Curtis?"

"No," Toby said. "I would not do that to her. We will figure out a name in due time. Right now...right now you guys need to come meet her."

"Are they ready to see people?" Paige asked.

"She was born thirty minutes ago," Toby said. "Everyone is fine. She's got a great APGAR and Happy's great. She actually asked if I'd bring you guys in."

"How..." Paige hesitated. Despite all her talks with Toby over the past six months, she wasn't at all sure how to ask the question she had on her tongue.

"She's great," Toby said. "She's...she's not like you would be. But she loves her so much."

He led them down the hall, knocking on the door before opening it.

Happy lay upright in the bed, an I.V. in her arm and an oxygen tube running under her nose. She didn't smile – but her eyes lit up – when she saw them. "Hey, fellas."

Paige gave a cheerful verbal greeting as she stared down at the little baby in Happy's arms. She couldn't see much of her, all wrapped up in the hospital blankets that were featured in most first photos on social media – but the newest Curtis had dark eyes, Happy's nose, and black hair – lots and lots of it.

This was most definitely Happy's daughter.

"Oh Happy," Sylvester was saying, a hand to his mouth. "She is absolutely gorgeous."

"She's tough, too," Happy said proudly as Toby leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Cried for like, two seconds then realized there's nothing here worth getting all bothered about. Instead of whining about the light, she just closed her eyes. But she's getting used to it now."

Paige smiled at the pride in the other woman's voice.

"I can see you, Dineen," Happy said with a smirk. "You want to hold her?"

"Oh, yes please," she said eagerly, walking closer to the bed and reaching her arms out. Happy started to lift the newborn up, then stopped, shooting Paige a warning look. "Ralph hasn't been this little in a long time. You be careful."

"Yes Happy," Paige said, amused as she remembered just how protective she'd been when others – even Drew – held newborn Ralph.

She gathered the baby into her arms, looking down. Happy and Toby's daughter stared right back up at her, her large eyes focusing as best as they could on Paige's face. "Hi there, little...girl," she said, remembering that as of yet, she had no name. "Hi. You're so precious. You look just like your Mommy."

"You know, O'Brien," Toby said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You know what would look really good on your marriage evaluation?"

"Toby," Walter said warningly.

"I see how you're looking at her right now," Toby hissed, under his breath. Paige knew she wasn't supposed to overhear and pretended that she didn't.

"Well, if that isn't a lovely sight," came Cabe's voice as he entered the room.

"You want to hold her?" Paige asked. "I mean..." she looked at Happy, who had her eyes raised in amusement. "I mean if..."

"He can hold her," Happy said. "But you see how Paige is doing it? You do the same thing. That's the best way. The safest way."

"I think I got it," Cabe said, an amused twinkle in his eyes as Paige passed the baby to him. "So...she, eh? Does she have a name?"

"Not yet," Toby said.

"Alright. Well," he said, looking down at the newest member of the group. "For now I'll just call you precious."


	6. Valentine's Day

Paige woke up to discover she was the only one in bed.

Laying flat on her back and staring at the ceiling, she furrowed her brow, trying to remember if Walter had come home with her and Ralph that night. Yes, she specifically remembered him asking, repeatedly, if the light from his iPad bothered her as she tried to sleep. He'd chuckled when she said the only thing preventing her from sleeping was his repeated queries.

That was most definitely last night. So...

Paige slid out of bed. He was always up before her, but he usually stayed in bed until she awoke, afraid that Immigration was going to come and break down the door, ready to call the marriage a fraud if one of them was in the bedroom and the other wasn't.

She hadn't even tied the strings on her pajamas in the past four months in case they had to undress in a hurry. But, thankfully, the surprise visits had all been brief and at a fairly decent hour.

She wandered out of the bedroom, knocking on Ralph's door and hearing the _yep_ that always signaled that he was up and getting ready for school.

She was nearly in the kitchen when she heard the door open. "Walter?" She called out, hoping it was him and not immigration. "Is that you...babe?"

His head popped around the corner, and she felt a wave of relief wash over her. "Hey!"

"Hi, where were you?"

"I was out...out, uh, getting these." He reached around the counter and a large, colorful bundle came into view.

"What's...what's this?" She asked.

She was expecting him to look at her oddly and reply _flowers_ , because of course that's what they were. But he merely shrugged, giving her a tiny smile. "It's Valentine's Day," he said, and...did he sound _shy_? "And you know...you're...my wife."

Paige could tell she was blushing furiously as she reached out and took them, drawing the bouquet to her nose and inhaling deeply. She'd just been saying the other day that the condo was looking drab, and the combination of the colors and fragrance filled up her senses. "I, uh," she stammered, feeling like an idiot for being so thrown off by what was such a common gesture, "they're beautiful." Knowing he often didn't understand implications, she smiled at him. "I love them." She felt the coarse ribbon tying the stems together. "We'll have to get them into some water." She walked over to the sink, laying the flowers out and grabbing her kitchen scissors. "Can you cut all of these about an inch and a half from the bottom?"

"Sure." He took the scissors from her and she was keenly aware of the warmth from his hand. Filling a vase with water, she took the flowers from him, one at a time, and assembled them inside. "So pretty," she murmured. The early sunlight was coming in through the window, and the flowers looked even brighter. She patted them lightly, turning to smile at Walter. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said softly.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he responded, a corner of his mouth turning up in an almost playful manner. "Mrs. O'Brien."

Their eyes were locked, their faces barely a foot apart. She wanted him to kiss her, and suddenly he was, closing the narrow gap between them and brushing his lips gently over hers, his hands resting lightly at her waist. She slid her hands between his bent elbows and his ribs, kissing him back gently in the path of the sun.

"Aw, _cool_!"

They broke apart, startled, and turned in unison to see Ralph, his backpack over his shoulders, leaning on the table and grinning broadly.

"Ralph!" Paige said. "You didn't eat breakfast."

"They're doing breakfast at school today, remember?"

"Oh." Paige did remember signing a form for that. "Right." _Why had she had to sign a form for..._ "You're going in early today. Which means it's time to leave now. Which means we are about to be late." She grabbed her keys. "Walter, you coming with us?"

"Yeah," he said, grabbing his laptop bag. "Yeah, gotta go straight to the garage from Ralph's school, though."

"No problem." Paige held the door open for him as she and Ralph exited the condo, and as he reached out to take it from her, he stopped.

They both did.

They smiled at each other, and she glanced back at him again as she turned away to look for the first step. The way he'd looked at her just then...the way he'd looked at her in the kitchen...a shiver went up her spine and it wasn't at all the kind that she got when watching scary movies.

Her heart was fluttering in her chest and her cheeks were tinged pink as they headed out to the car.

* * *

"What's up with you, 197?" Toby asked, jogging down the stairs. Paige and Happy were still up in the loft, the former showing Happy the little Valentine outfits she'd gotten for little Grace. As much as he wanted to help dress his daughter up in them, he had to get to Patrick's. His father in law was designing a bundle of flowers made entirely of metals.

"Hmm?" Walter looked up from his laptop. "What do you mean?"

"You've got a...slight..." Sylvester walked over to his desk and leaned on it, studying the older man. "A lightness to you."

"Did something happen with you and Paige?" Toby asked. "Oh my, my, my, I think something did."

"My relationship with Paige is not for public analysis," Walter said.

"But your marriage to her is," Toby said. "But you just used the word _relationship_ which implies that something happened that wasn't for a picture for the photo album."

"I may have gotten her flowers for Valentine's Day," Walter said. "And there may have been a brief...contact...between our lips, but..."

"Oh my God," Sylvester said. "You guys are really..."

"No," Walter said, holding up a hand. "Don't."

"I get it," Sylvester said. "Things might be starting to happen for you guys for real and you don't want us to jinx it. But Walt, that's got to be exciting. You guys haven't kissed for no reason other than _feelings_ in...oh gosh, since you got out of the hospital from your car accident, right?"

Toby cleared his throat. "Sly."

"For geniuses like us, we remember things, especially things that bring back intense feelings. You have to think about that kiss...every day. All you have to do is close your eyes and you can see her exactly how she looked that night. That one time that you knew that there was nothing involved but the energy between the two of you. To think that you guys might be getting to that point again...I know how overwhelming it is," he said, "to be at the start of something big. And if I hadn't had people to talk to about it..." he shrugged. "Walt. We're here. We're here for you. And for her."

"Don't get excited," Walter said.

"But it's _you guys_ ," Sylvester said. "It's always been you guys." He cocked his head, noticing a slight frown on Walter's face. "Uh...what's the matter?"

"N – nothing," he said. "Have we had this conversation before?"

"What?"

"The...Paige and my first kiss. I feel like I've had that discussion previously."

"Not from me," Sylvester said.

Toby shook his head. "Me either."

Walter shrugged. "Huh."

* * *

Paige grinned as she saw Happy's jaw drop at the sight of the metal flowers, noting the pleased look on Toby's face as he took in her reaction. Their expressions sent butterflies straight to her stomach as she remembered her own morning with Walter.

"Look at Mommy and Daddy in love," she whispered to Grace. The baby looked up at her, clapping her little hands together. "Yes, look at Mommy and Daddy in love."

Happy turned from Toby, walking over to the couch and picking her daughter up with a smile. Carrying her back across the loft, she tucked her head to Toby's chest as he wrapped his arms around her, the baby protectively between them.

Paige got up, striding purposefully down the stairs.

Walter wasn't in the main room, and she wandered into the kitchen. He wasn't there either. She wondered briefly if he'd gone to get her something else for Valentine's Day, and even as that pleasant fluttering in her stomach returned, she was suddenly filled with guilt that she hadn't gotten him anything. He didn't need a watch, he wore cologne only on special occasions... _technology_. He would love something new, something that was just released in stores, to make his own improvements on.

Paige pushed open the door to the garage, and stopped. "...Walter?"

He was standing a few feet from the car, hands in his pockets, staring off into nothing.

"W..." she cocked her head. "What's going on?"

"I couldn't go up to the roof because you guys were in the loft."

She cocked her head in the other direction. He was agitated – something had clearly gotten to him – but she had no idea what. "And...why not?"

"Sly said something to me today." He turned to look at her. "About our first kiss." He paused, as if expecting her to have a response, but she had no idea where he was going with this and didn't know what to say. "He said that, that due to my brain make up, and...and other...f – factors, that I would remember every detail. Such as...such as what you were wearing. Your perfume. How your lips felt."

"O – okay." _It's not due to your brain make up. Normal people can remember every detail of important moments too. Believe me._ "What does this..."

He looked at her as if she should have connected all the dots by now. "Space."

"Space," she said, nerves beginning to stir.

"You told me you talked to me," he said, taking in a deep breath. "You don't remember telling me that you know how much I think about our kiss?"

"I...I didn't. Tell you that," she said. _He hallucinated me talking about our kiss?_ Toby hadn't told her that. Then again, she supposed none of them would have known her half of whatever conversations Walter thought happened. "At least...at least when you thought I was telling you that, I wasn't actually talking to you then. It...it must have been...just a part in your mind." She knew he wouldn't like that – he hated having gaps in his memory. His brain was his strongest and most reliable tool.

Walter looked more disconcerted than before. "You...you said we talked about Baked Alaska, but...but after that..."

 _Oh God._

"Were you talking to me after that?" He asked, his voice not sounding like himself.

Paige nodded, her heart in her throat as she thought about why she'd come bounding down the stairs in search of him just minutes ago. _Not like this. Not like this._ "Yes."

"You got me to pull the lever. You got me to come home. You saved my life."

"I would have done anything to bring you home, but you saved your _own_ life," she said, suddenly not wanting an inkling of credit for anything that happened that day. " _You_ pulled the lever. You just needed some help getting there. That's all."

"You said..." He started, and she knew where this was going; she wanted to throw up, her head began to spin, she didn't want to do this, "you said that you love me." His face contorted. "Why would you say that if you didn't mean it?"

 _I would never say I love you if I didn't mean it._ It wasn't what he said, but Paige could read between the lines.

"I...I understand...needing to complete the mission," Walter said. "I know...I know I've lied to fulfill our objective. It's..."

"I would have said anything to bring you home," she blurted, tears in her eyes. "But that _doesn't_ mean I lied to you. I didn't even _know_ how I felt then, okay? Even about Tim, and I was dating him. All I knew for sure was I had to get you to want to come back to us because we can't live without you and if you died because I didn't try hard enough I'd never forgive myself. You're so important to me, Walter. You're _so_ important to me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked. "Why didn't you...all this time? All this time, you all knew, and I...we've been _married_ for four months."

She could see how much he was struggling to keep some inkling of control. He was spiraling, she could see that, as he tried desperately to process something that would be a lot to take even for the most adjusted individual. And he had to be embarrassed on top of it all, knowing that this had all played out in front of the team and they'd been carrying those memories all this time. He probably even knew that they'd kept it from him for his own good – but that wouldn't make him feel any better. She took a step toward him. "Walter..." The look in his eyes was terrifying her. "Walter, can we go somewhere and talk?"

He stared at her, then, "no."

She blinked. "What?"

"I'm sorry. I can't. I can't."

She hesitated before asking why not.

He bit his lip. "Because I know now how it feels to tell you that I love you and hear you say it back. I'd imagined it before but..." His breathing grew audible. "I...I never imagined that it would hurt so badly."

She could have sworn that something was actually squeezing her heart. She wanted to go back to that morning, when his lips were catching hers between them, when the early morning sun danced around them and despite the fraudulent marriage she'd been feeling things that were incredibly real and incredibly good.

Hell, she'd go back to five minutes ago in the loft, deciding to come down here and tell him...but she couldn't now. Not like this. Not when he was looking at her like that. He had never looked at her like _that_ before, she couldn't identify it but it wasn't good and she was suddenly terrified.

"I was going to drive away. Find somewhere alone to think. But you have the keys."

"Walter, please. Let's just go inside, or – or we can drive somewhere together! Anywhere you want. We'll find somewhere we can be alone. And we'll talk. We'll talk about anything you want. And I promise it'll be okay. We'll get through this. We can get through anything."

Her voice had naturally dropped into the soothing tone that she used just for him, for moments like this when he was so fraught. It wasn't working. He was listening, but her words weren't having any effect.

Paige's face drained of all the color that had been so present that morning as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

She was no longer a safe space.

"Please give me the keys," he said, his breathing ragged. He wasn't angry with her. She wished he would be angry with her. Anything but the broken expression.

She shook her head. "No."

"Paige, please, I...I have to..."

"I know," she said. "I _know_ you need time to process and I _know_ you need to be alone and I _know_ your brain is failing you right now and I want you to be someplace where you can recuperate from this but I can't let you drive."

"I'll be careful."

"You always think you're careful."

A car pulled up, seemingly out of nowhere, causing them both to jump, and Paige swore her face didn't have another ounce of blood to lose when she saw the pattern on the folder sitting on the dashboard. This wasn't a person she recognized – but she knew why they were here.

"Hi there," said the woman as she exited the vehicle. "I'm Hotchkiss. From Immigration. Are you Walter and Paige?"


	7. Fallout

**Whoo, so this chapter was so freaking hard to write because I always feel like I fail with coming up with and writing actual cases. But it was slow at work yesterday and I was reading up on some stuff and came across what turned into the inspiration for the case (I've known I needed a case since I started the damn fic and still couldn't come up with one lol). Three more chapters after this one, and a HUGE thanks, as always, to those that have read and reviewed. You guys just light up my life.**

* * *

Walter and Paige stared at Hotchkiss, neither one moving a muscle.

"Well?" She asked impatiently.

"Uh," Paige said, "what was the question?"

"Walter and Paige!" She snapped. "The O'Briens. Can you please take me to them?"

Paige glanced at Walter in absolute horror. What if, now, in the depths of an emotional train wreck, he said something that he would regret? "That's…that's us."

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Hotchkiss asked.

"That's…that's a valid question." Walter stammered.

"Yeah?" She asked. "I'm glad you think so." She put a hand on her hip. "So. Today is a special day, huh?"

"Valentine's Day," Walter said, nodding. "Yes."

"So…what gifts did you give each other?"

"I uh, I gave her flowers," Walter said. "Bright, brightly colored ones. I must confess I don't know what type they were, but she likes them."

"Do you have any photographs?"

"No," Paige said. "They're at home."

"Most people will post photographs of their significant others' gift to them on social media."

"I'm really not that active on social media," Paige said. "What with the seriousness of the job, and all. And I probably would have taken pictures, but we had to take our son to school."

" _Our_ son?" Hotchkiss asked.

"Well, Walter _is_ Ralph's step dad." Paige shivered at the breeze that had picked up out of nowhere. "Can we finish this inside?"

"Certainly. So, Paige," Hotchkiss asked as they entered the garage. "Walter got you flowers."

"And chocolate covered pretzel sticks," she blurted, glad that Hotchkiss was looking at her and not Walter – his face would have immediately given away her lie.

"What is the significance of those?"

"I like salty sweet things," she said, glancing over her shoulder as Happy and Toby descended the stairs, Grace in her mother's arms. "Initially it was just a pregnancy craving, but not anymore."

"A pregnancy craving, you say?" Hotchkiss's eyebrows shot up. "So you and Walter are having a baby."

"No," Walter said quickly. He glanced at Paige. "No?" She shook her head, and he looked back at Hotchkiss. "No."

"I mean when I was pregnant with Ralph," Paige said.

"Ah," Hotchkiss said. "I was going to say, a baby, that'd be a pretty unheard of extreme if you were in a fraudulent marriage."

"Dude," Toby whispered to Walter. "I told you."

"What did you get Walter, Paige?" The agent asked, scribbling something on her clipboard.

"Oh," Paige said, ready to explain that he liked buying the latest gadgets stores had to offer and making his own improvements on them, but she decided to go with a simpler answer. "He's getting his present later," she said breezily, then, realizing how that sounded, lowered her voice slightly. "If you know what I mean."

Sylvester coughed.

"I am sorry about earlier," Paige said. "You just caught us at a bit of a bad time. See, this job is really stressful, and sometimes we get into little fights about it. But we're fine. Really. We've never been…" She trailed off, feeling like _more in love_ was an inappropriate way to end the sentence, given the current circumstances. "We've never been happier."

Hotchkiss didn't believe a word she was saying, and Paige was almost grateful at the garage door rapidly swinging open, causing all of them to jump.

"Hey team," Cabe said. "Got a job."

"I'm sorry," Hotchkiss said. "It will have to wait. I'm conducting an interview with the O'Briens."

"You're gonna have to postpone this at least a little bit," Cabe said. "Because we have a case. And we need all hands on deck."

"Unfortunately we have to…"

" _Unfortunately_ ," Cabe said firmly, "this can't wait and we need all hands on deck, as I just said." He handed a file to Paige. "Early last year, a team of researchers from Switzerland developed drones that used artificial intelligence algorithms to detect man made paths through the wilderness. The drone will follow such paths if one is picked up. A couple of months ago a group from Sacramento began to put together their own prototype, and on Friday they headed out into the woods of Colorado to run a series of tests. Problem with tests is…"

"Sometimes they fail," Sylvester said.

"Uh huh. We've got six high profile government researchers lost in the wilderness and two others with nothing but failed technology."

"They didn't have a…plan for where they were going?" Happy asked, cocking her head as she rocked Grace at her hip.

"They couldn't," Cabe said, "or else the people prepping the drone technology wouldn't be able to say for sure that they didn't inadvertently help the drone along. They were confident it would work."

"That was awfully stupid of them," Walter muttered.

"It is decidedly not anyone's finest moment," Cabe said, "but that doesn't change the fact that it's going down to thirty five degrees where they are tonight, and rain is in the overnight forecast. They are calling us because of our success in locating those hikers a few years back."

"Does anyone else remember the massive forest fire that accompanied that particular mission?" Sylvester asked, his voice higher than usual.

"Complete accident," Toby said. "Plus, you heard him, it's going to rain there tonight."

"It's gonna be okay, Sly," Paige said, reaching over and squeezing his arm encouragingly. " _Oh_ my God," she snapped at Hotchkiss. "Am I not allowed to comfort my friend?"

"I just find it interesting that you haven't touched your husband since Agent Gallo arrived, and here you are with this man."

"We don't touch all the time. Do you want us to act fake because you're here? Doesn't that go against your entire point of being here? We're a real couple. Real couples don't touch all the time. What in the hell do you want from us?"

"Paige," Walter said. "Honey. I know this is stressful. But we need to focus on the researchers right now."

"You're right," she said, feeling like she should reach out and touch him, but worried that he might break if she did. Hotchkiss didn't know Walter, and it was possible that she couldn't detect the distress in his eyes, but Paige could. Paige knew those eyes, and he was barely holding it together. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Alright," Cabe said. "We're putting two helicopters in the air, on either side of the search zone. We'll use our technology to try and locate the team."

"Someone has to stay home with Grace," Toby said.

"I'll do it."

"No," Hotchkiss said, eyeing Paige suspiciously. "You're coming along, and so am I."

* * *

The wind that was trailing through downtown Los Angeles was nothing compared to what the helicopters encountered over the Colorado wilderness. Paige sat in the corner, wedged between the wall and her husband, with Toby on his other side and Hotchkiss sitting across from them, staring intently. "You realize we're not going to start making out on this helicopter ride, right?" Paige asked. "We're on a job."

Hotchkiss simply gave a tight lipped smile and said nothing.

"Okay," the pilot said from the front seat. "We're going to be dipping down pretty low, only about ten feet above the tree line, since I know your technology doesn't work as well in this weather. Be careful around the open doors and if you drop any of your machines, they're gone for good. We only have time to make one pass before the weather gets too bad, and we can't waste any time going back for anything when we'll barely have time to rescue the researchers if we find them."

"Gotcha," Toby said. He looked around Walter to Paige. "Do you think it was a mistake leaving Grace with Sly?"

"No," Paige said. "You know how good he is with her."

"I know Happy would rather you stay behind with her."

"Yeah, well," Paige muttered, glaring at Hotchkiss.

"I'm only doing my job," the older woman said.

Walter grunted as he prepared his laptop.

"Alright, going down," the pilot said, glaring at Toby through the mirror when the behaviorist snickered. "Agent Gallo and Mrs. Curtis just sent me a message, they've begun their search. Let's do this thing."

The helicopter descended, and Paige looked out the window as the trees – barely visible in the rapidly receding light – seemed to rush up to meet them. "Oh," she said fearfully.

"Don't worry," Walter said. "We won't get close enough to them to cause any problems."

He scooted closer to the side door, bracing his feet against it for security. "Scanners aren't picking up anything yet," he said. "But we have a lot more ground to cover."

The wind picked up, causing the helicopter to rock slightly. Toby put his hand on top of his head and pushed down. "What?" He asked Hotchkiss. "You heard the pilot man. We can't go back for anything and I really like this hat."

Fifteen minutes passed in relative silence – if one could consider the whipping of the wind and the slow tapping of the beginning of a rainstorm against the helicopter relative silence. Paige almost didn't notice any of that. The lack of any conversation between the four people in the back of the helicopter was just as loud.

"We can't go as fast in this weather as we'd like," the pilot said, practically having to shout to be heard. "We're running out of time. This storm is getting intense. We're approaching lightning season in Colorado, you know."

"We've only covered a third of the ground we were supposed to," Walter said. "And we've taken up almost three quarters of our time. Unless we get really lucky, really fast, these researchers have already been missing for almost two days.

"They'll be hungry, cold, dehydrated," Toby said. "They probably won't survive tonight."

There was unintelligible – and barely audible, to those in the back – communication over the com system in the front of the helicopter. "That was Agent Gallo and Mrs. Curtis," the pilot shouted. "They've found them! They just need our help to pick them up! Brace yourselves!"

The helicopter banked suddenly to the right, and Walter yelped as his laptop slipped from his hands and plummeted below. At the same time, the pilot cursed as the helicopter descended farther, just scraping the tops of the pine trees. He made another sharp turn.

Paige didn't know whose yell was louder – Walter's as he tumbled out of the helicopter or hers as she lunged to grab him and missed.

" _Walter!_ " She screamed. " _Walter_!" She jumped up, ignoring the pilot's scream for her to sit back down. "We have to get him!"

"We can't!" The pilot shouted. "I'd love to, but I barely have control of this craft! And we have six people to save! Six! Six against one!"

" _Walter_!" She dropped to her hands and knees, staring out into the blackness. The storm was coming in, and quickly, but she could still hear, through the wind and the rain and the clattering of the remaining equipment inside the helicopter, the sound of the trees brushing against the bottom of the craft. _We're not that high. Trees can slow a fall. He's alive. I know he's alive._

"Paige, _don't_!"

Toby realized too late what she was about to do. By the time the words were out, Paige was already falling.


	8. Search and Rescue

If Paige had leapt from the helicopter into a deciduous forest, she almost certainly would not have survived the fall. The weather might be almost alarmingly mild for the time of year, but it was still winter, and the only trees that had their leaves were the conifers. She tumbled, bouncing off the more flexible branches, grunting as she hit the sturdier ones, and hoping that the snapping that she heard was coming from the trees instead of her body – her adrenaline was too high to feel any pain. It felt like minutes had passed before she could grab hold of a branch, slide off of it, then grab another one and come to a stop – though it couldn't have been more than two or three seconds.

Hanging from the branch – thankfully the rain hadn't really gotten started yet and her grip wasn't slipping now that she'd slowed down, she felt around with her feet, trying to find another branch to drop to. Unsuccessful, she shifted her hands down the branch until she found the tree trunk.

A streak of lightning lit up the sky, giving Paige a sudden fear that there _would_ be another fire after all. But it also showed her that if she let go, she'd fall only a couple more feet before she would land on two branches from two different trees that met almost parallel to each other. Each looked sturdy enough to hold her weight. She waited for another bolt of lightning to better see her landing zone, and dropped.

"Ooof," she said as her feet made contact. She stumbled backward, falling onto her back, and heard one of the branches creak in protest.

She evaluated herself. She had some scrapes – her left shoulder had taken the initial impact into one of these trees and she could feel the blood dripping from a gash. Sliding her hand under her shirt, she felt around the wound. It wasn't pulsing, and wasn't bleeding all that heavily. It wasn't a serious wound.

At the next flash of lightning, she looked down. She was still about twenty feet from the forest floor, and she was already on one of the lowest branches. It was too far to drop from here. People were killed falling off of roofs of two story houses, and this was higher than that.

Paige scooted carefully toward the trunk of the nearest tree, wrapping her arms and legs around it and slowly beginning to shimmy down. The wind wasn't as bad down here – the same density of the forest that threatened the research team had saved her life in the fall and was also serving to protect anyone down here from some of the elements.

After what felt like years, Paige's feet hit the ground. She let go of the tree and whirled around. " _Walter!_ "

It occurred to her as she ran forward that she had no idea which way to go. It was only early evening, but the forest plus the oncoming weather made her current visibility almost alarmingly low. She looked up, waiting for the next bolt of lightning. They'd been flying away from the storm when Walter fell, which meant…

Lightning flashed to her left. Paige turned right and started to run. " _Walter_!" She screamed. " _Walter!_ "

 _You don't even know if he's conscious._

She pushed the niggling voice out of her head. He was alive. He had to be. She would know if he was dead.

 _How would you know if he's dead? How could you possibly know?_

"I would know!" she said out loud, forcefully, stopping briefly to catch her breath, hands on her knees. Her heart was pounding as she squinted in the dim light, desperately hoping to see him coming toward her. She straightened up. " _Wal! Ter!"_

She ran forward again, looking up, trying to see where branches may have broken. Almost right away, her foot caught on a root, sending her toppling forward. She smacked into the hard ground and yelped in pain. Rolling onto her side, she gritted her teeth, breathing through them, praying that the throbbing in her ankle would subside.

When it did, she pulled herself to her feet, moving forward again, more carefully this time. "Walter!" she screamed again. "Walter!" She was winded, and her breaks, hands on her knees and head down, gasping for breath, slowly became more frequent.

She remembered that the helicopter had been making a turn when he'd fallen. Maybe she was heading in the wrong direction. There was no way of knowing. Coming to a stop, Paige pulled out her phone. There was, as expected, no signal, but the time told her that roughly thirty five minutes had passed since she'd dove out of the helicopter. "Walter," she managed, quietly, tears leaking from her eyes. She stopped, leaning against a tree. Above her was a gap in the branches, and rain drops started to hit her skin.

When the next flash of lightning lit up the sky, Paige screamed, not knowing if it was more in shock or in relief.

He wasn't more than six feet to her left. Had she not stopped, she would have gone right by him.

"Walter!" She rushed to his side, dropping to her knees by his head. He was on his side, his eyes closed. "Walter," she said, running her hand over his head, through his hair, feeling for bumps, for blood, praying that she wouldn't feel brain. She couldn't tell if his hair was slick from blood or from rain. Tears leaked from her eyes. "Walter, please." She pressed her fingers to his neck, like Toby had shown her to do. "Oh God," she gasped in relief when his heartbeat pulsed against her fingers.

She heard him groan, and then he rolled onto his back, his eyes fluttering open. "Paige?"

She grabbed his hand. "I'm right here." Looking up, Paige frowned. There was no way he had fallen straight to this spot. He must have come down similar to how she had. She remembered that neither of them had eaten this morning and the dizziness she was feeling was probably amplified in him, given how hard his brain had been working today, trying to process everything.

"Paige what…" He struggled to a sitting position. "What did you _do_?" He looked around. "It's too early for a rescue party, you…" he looked at her with wide eyes. " _What did you do?_ "

"I…came after you?" She offered, faltering when she realized there was absolutely no rational explanation for why she was here. "How is your head?"

"I've had worse." He winced, clearly in pain, then cleared his throat. "Did you have a plan? For coming after me?"

"Find…find you." She shrugged. "I guess…the plan was just to find you."

"But after that?" He asked, and Paige swore if he shook his head any more it was going to come unscrewed. "You just… _jumped out of the helicopter?_ "

He sounded mad. She knew he hated when she took risks, but… "I knew we were close to the tree line," she said. "It was a calculated risk. I thought you'd be proud."

She couldn't see him well enough to see him roll his eyes, but she knew he was doing it. "Paige, that was so incredibly dangerous."

"I just…" She shifted uncomfortably. "I was scared."

"Well," he said, as the rain started to come down a little harder. "We need to find shelter."

"Can you get up?" She asked, scrambling to her feet and holding her arm out if he needed support. He grabbed her wrist, the strong grip that had brought them through the tornado in Vietnam, and then he was on his feet, surprisingly strong for someone whom she feared was dead mere minutes ago. "Shelter…"

"Over there," Walter said, pointing to the side. "The lightning right before I fell, there was a gap in the trees."

"So…more rain?"

"I saw rocks. There might be a cave, or something. An overhang. Something to keep us dry. We have nothing to signal with; they won't find us tonight. We have to stay dry. It's too cold to get wet."

Paige didn't realize how cold she was until he mentioned it, and she shivered, crossing her arms. Walter moved toward her, instinctively, pulling her close. She could feel him shaking, and she felt the goosebumps on his arm when her hand rested there.

She remembered that day over a year ago when he'd separated himself from her and Ralph on the runaway subway car. _I saw you disappearing into the blackness, and it frightened me._ She had hoped to never feel that same horror again, and yet here they were, both of them, because when he'd fallen from that helicopter into the rainy night, she'd lost the capability for rational thought.

She loved him. She loved him in ways she hadn't realized she could.

 _Walter, I'll explain anything you need me to_ , she thought, as he rocked her gently against his chest. _Just let me stay here by your side. That would be enough._

"Come on," he said after a moment, taking her hand and walking toward where he said he'd seen potential shelter. They darted between trees, trying to stay as dry as possible. She noticed he was limping, ever so slightly, just as she was. "There!" He said finally.

There was a rapid elevation change – perhaps of fifty feet – in front of them, an almost sheer rock wall. Near the bottom, erosion had hollowed out a small gap – maybe two feet tall and of an unknown depth. It wasn't a cave. But it would have to do.

"You go in first," Paige insisted, dropping to her knees and feeling the ground. In the space under the cliff, it was dry. "You had a harder fall than I did, you're in worse, shape, you need to stay dry."

"No," Walter said, lowering himself next to her and peering under the ledge. "I'm fine. You're littler, you should go first."

"You won't be able to fit all the way under it."

"It's not big enough for both of us to fit under it, period," Walter said. "But look, it gets narrower the farther in you go. Which means you going in first is most efficient. You can get farther under it than I can, which means a higher percentage of us will be dry."

She rolled her eyes. "I hate it when you're right."

Walter cocked his head. "How do you even stand to be around me, then?"

She bumped her shoulder against his. "Shut up." She eased under the ledge, scooting as far back as she could. It was more than a little claustrophobic, but she tried not to think about that. He had to have as much room under here as possible. He scooted in next to her, grunting. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm just sore."

"Here." She pushed at him, asking for more room, and he obliged instantly. Scooting a fraction forward, she rolled on her side. "Now you have more room."

He turned, facing her, wiggling completely under the overhang. There was no space between them.

* * *

Walter didn't sleep.

He wasn't sure if Paige did either, but she sure was quiet.

He hated that she was here. She could have died, leaping from the helicopter, not knowing if he had survived the fall, not capable of getting them to safety anyway. When he was alone, he only had to worry about him. Now, survival was a requirement, because if he didn't get out there, she wouldn't either. He wished he could spend this horrible night knowing that at least she was safe.

But she almost seemed content, as if knowing where he was was her top priority, whether or not it was the most logical scenario be damned. And he couldn't really blame her, if he thought about it. He'd certainly made rash, illogical decisions before when it came to her.

She shifted her weight, still not making any noise. He'd been sleeping at her side for the past four months and he knew when she moved in her sleep she always made a little sound. He didn't know if he couldn't hear it this time because of the sounds of the storm, or if she was awake and didn't make the sound because she didn't know she was supposed to, to keep up the ruse.

This overhang was on higher ground, preventing the rain from seeping through and into their clothes. It was still chilly – especially his back, which was facing the elements, but their body heat cozied up the tiny space, keeping Paige warm as she pressed up against him. He had an arm around her because it kept them in an efficient position for heat storage.

He wasn't angry with her over what happened when he was in space, he really wasn't. But…things felt weird.

When she said she would marry him, when they did get married, when they'd had sex, all through their honeymoon, all through the kissing and posing and interviews of the last four months, she knew that he loved her, knew that he _really_ loved her, not just for show. And during all that time, he didn't know she knew.

That explained the horrible guilt he now recognized had been in her eyes the night they'd slept together.

 _She wouldn't feel guilty if she didn't…_

But she was a normal. Normals felt guilt many reasons, some of which Walter would probably never understand. Just because she'd done so many things over the past few months that might indicate that, perhaps, she did love him right back, as she'd sworn she did when he was hypoxic, he could very easily be reading her wrong.

After all, she was normal, and he was a million miles from.

* * *

Morning came, but it didn't get very light. "It looks like it may storm again," Walter mumbled, rolling onto his back and looking out at the forest.

Paige's shoulder hurt from laying completely still on it all night long – she wasn't sure if he'd slept, but she hadn't, not a wink. "They're looking for us," she said. "Right?"

"Of course." Walter nodded. She could see blood on his shirt collar, but it was dry. "You know that we don't…" he looked at her. "We don't leave anyone behind."

"Walter, I know I was stupid for coming after you."

"I probably would have done the same thing," he admitted. His voice grew quiet. "You know how I am when it comes to you." There was a short silence, then Paige's ears picked up a rhythmic sound in the distance. Walter lifted his head an inch off the ground. "Do you hear that?"

"A helicopter." Paige looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh my God."

They scrambled out of the cave, both of them grunting in pain as they asked their bruised and battered bodies to move quickly. They got to their feet and looked upward. "There's no way they see us."

"They'd know that if we were alive, we'd go to a clearing," Walter said. "They'll lower the helicopter as far as they can to better study areas that are open. If they don't find us, they'll switch the operation to recovery and go on the ground, but for now, they're hoping we're alive…and I for one and pretty glad that they're right." He looked around the clearing. "This one is too small for them to land, but it's near a rocky spot. This is an idea place for us to go, both for short term survival and rescue."

"I don't see it!" Paige said, frustrated. "Should we try and climb to the top of the rock face?"

"Not possible without climbing gear," Walter said. "Especially since we both have twisted ankles."

Paige gave a frustrated whine, putting both hands on her head and walking in a circle.

"Let's get into the center," he said, moving to the middle of the clearing and looking up again. He pointed. "There!"

Paige ran to his side, and they both waved their arms frantically as a helicopter came into view. Someone was leaning out the side. "It's Cabe!" Paige shouted, even though Walter could see. "He sees us!"

Cabe disappeared into the helicopter, then returned, holding something up to his face. "Are you guys okay?" He said through it.

Walter jumped up and down in response, Paige gave a thumbs up.

"The weather is getting worse again," he said, "we have to move fast! I'm going to send down a harness on a tether that Happy designed last night. We'll pull one of you up, then send it back down for the other. We gotta go fast because soon we won't be in flying conditions anymore!"

He disappeared into the helicopter. "It's going to be like when people rescue from the water," Walter said, "only it won't be anyone coming down to pull us up. I know how those harnesses work, so we'll be able to get you secured pretty quickly."

"We'll be able to get _you_ secured pretty quickly," Paige said.

"Uh uh. You're going first."

"Walter, no."

"There might only be time for one of us to be pulled up. I will not leave you out here."

"Well, I won't leave you out here either."

"Paige, you have Ralph, you have to go."

Paige's voice was shrill. " _Haven't I told you that Ralph and I need you alive_?"

"Paige," Walter said fiercely. "It's only a maybe, that there won't be time for both of us. You go first, I'm sure there will be time for me."

"If you're so sure, then you go first."

"Lowering the harness!" Cabe shouted through the megaphone. "Hurry!"

"How about this," Paige said. "We go up together."

"How."

"We'll put you in the harness. Let me finish," she said, holding a hand up to silence him when his mouth opened to protest. "And I'll hang onto you. And they'll pull us both up. I'm sure Happy made some contraption strong enough for that."

The harness lowered to a foot above the ground, and Walter jumped into it, letting Paige help him fasten it securely around him. "Hang on one moment!" Walter yelled up to Cabe, holding a finger up. "Not without you," he said quietly to Paige.

Thunder rumbled – they hadn't even seen lightning. Paige stepped close to him, looking for the best way to hang on.

"Get closer," he said. "I'll wrap my arms…uh…you're probably going to have to…"

Understanding, Paige looked up, nodding at Cabe, giving him the go ahead to start pulling the cable up. She jumped up, wrapping her arms around Walter's neck and her legs around his hips, hooking her ankles behind his back as his arms closed around her.

The ascent took longer than she'd thought – which made sense, given the extra weight – and she knew she was shaking in fear. There was nothing but their grip on each other that was preventing her from plummeting back down to the forest floor, and she knew how rocky that clearing was. If she fell this time, she'd never see her son again.

But she gripped Walter tightly, and she knew that he wouldn't let her go – not as long as he was conscious, and even for a bit after that. Still, she knew her breathing was audible, her mouth right at his ear, and she was certain that he was trying to mumble something like reassurance to her, but anything he was saying was lost in the wind.

When they reached the top of the cable, two men leaned out. One was Cabe. They grabbed Paige and pulled her into the helicopter, and Cabe lowered her gently onto a stretcher inside. "Stay still," he said. "You might have injuries that you don't know about yet."

"Walter," she said, suddenly feeling incredibly weak.

"We've got him," Cabe said, gesturing behind him, where two others were pulling him into the cabin. "We've got you both."

They laid Walter on the stretcher next to her, pulling the doors of the helicopter closed. "Get out of here!" Cabe shouted at the pilot, who Paige thought was the same person who had flown them the day previous.

Her head lolled to the side, looking over at Walter. He was startlingly pale. She slid her hand over to his stretcher, curling her fingers around his, and he squeezed her hand, his head tipping to look at her. He smiled. She smiled back.

"We'll get you two to a hospital," Cabe said, hunkering down next to them. "You've both probably got some injuries that will want to be kept under observation for a day or two. But after that, there won't be anything to worry about."

"Except Hotchkiss," Paige said with an annoyed grunt.

"Nope," Cabe said. "She won't be bothering anything anymore."

"Hmmm. What'd you do?" Walter asked.

"It wasn't me," Cabe said. "She said that she talked to Ralph. And he was very convincing that your marriage isn't a sham. And then she said…" he hesitated. "She's never seen anything quite like you jumping out after him, Paige. She said folks don't do that. She's going to approve Walter's request for citizenship." He smiled down at Walter. "You'll be an American by the time they release you from the hospital."


	9. That Would Be Enough

Ralph had been sleeping fitfully the past few nights, and Paige was relieved when Sylvester suggested the boy sleep over at his place this weekend. It'd be fun, the genius said, and it might take his mind off of things. Paige agreed. Sylvester was a constant positive energy in her son's life.

Happy and Toby had long since left the garage – Grace was already sleeping almost through the night, but she always fell asleep early – which only left the liaison and government handler downstairs. The past three nights, since they'd gotten home from the hospital, Walter had said his goodnights when Happy and Toby left, and disappeared up into the loft. Paige had never followed him. They'd been released from the hospital together, and she'd even rested her head on his shoulder as they sat in the back seat while Toby drove them back to the garage.

But they hadn't talked. Not really. Not about anything important.

"I'm going to be heading out," Cabe said, putting on his jacket. "You doing okay, kid?"

Paige looked up from her desk. "Uh, yeah," she said. "I'll be sending out our reports tonight, and then I'm all caught up."

"That's not what I meant."

She bit her lip as he pulled a chair up and sat down across from her. "Paige, you know why Walter has citizenship now. And it's not because Ralph told Hotchkiss that you guys kissed when you thought no one was watching."

Paige sat in silence, staring down at her hands.

"You dove out of a helicopter, risking your own life for a man that might have already been dead, for no practical reason at all."

She didn't look up. "I love him, Cabe."

"I know you do. And he loves you, too, but you're in a complicated situation right now."

She nodded.

"Look, I'm taking off, and your son's with Sylvester tonight. You and Walter have always worked well when you communicate. And you have lots of time to talk."

Paige looked at him then, biting her lower lip. "Thanks, Cabe."

"Take care, kid."

She watched him go, sitting in silence for a while. Cabe was right. It was so. damn. complicated.

But…did it _have_ to be?

They'd done a marvelous job of avoiding the subject for the past seventy two hours, but they couldn't avoid this forever, because they were married…but they no longer had to be.

The stairs up to the loft had never lasted so long.

* * *

He was standing off to the side, near the couch where she'd slept for two nights straight following his harrowing trip to space, staring out the window. The moon had been full just a week before. They'd gone up on the roof with Ralph to look at it. He'd held her hand for a picture.

"Hey."

He turned, startled to see her, but composed himself quickly. "Hey."

"Cabe's left. And I think…I think we need to talk."

"Yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head. He gestured awkwardly to the couch. "Do you wanna…sit?"

"Sure. Yeah. I'd like that." She felt awkward as she sat down and she joined him, like they were in a business meeting. "So…you got your citizenship."

"Yeah." He smiled. "It's been a long road to…that. But it's over. And it was the preferred outcome."

She nodded. "Yeah. I don't…I don't know what we'd do. If you…weren't here."

"This wouldn't be possible without you, you know," he said, and for a moment she thought he was going to grab her hand. "I owe all of this to you."

"Please don't give me credit. If you'd known…then…what you know now, you probably would have found some other solution."

He grew quiet. "I do wish you'd told me."

"Can I tell you why, without it seeming like I'm passing blame?" She bit her lip as he nodded. "Toby told me not to tell you. I…was…dating Tim then, and he said if I pushed your memories out, it would be too much for you to handle. We didn't think it was safe for you. Emotionally. To bring them out of you rather than let them come on their own." She lowered her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt you. I was trying to keep you safe. And I destroyed our trust. And I'm sorry."

"No." He shook his head. "Paige, I was a mess for a few hours. And I'm still working through everything but even if I remembered I…I know we can't _really_ be together. These past four months, I'm sure…I know…there were some awkward times. There were some mistakes. I wish But that's all over. I'm a citizen. We don't need to do this anymore. We can go back to the way things were. Get divorced. Be friends."

"But you love me."

There was a long pause, neither of them moving. Then Walter sighed. "Yeah. But I've loved you for a long time. The most important thing, for me, is that you remain in my life. In any capacity. I can be your friend."

"Well, Walter, I'd like you to be my friend. I'd like that a lot. But…" she tugged at a loose stitch on her shirt. "But what if…I don't want to get divorced?"

He blinked. "What?"

"I love you."

His expression changed – only slightly – but she could tell a world of difference. When he spoke, his voice was laden with emotion. "You love me?"

She nodded, feeling herself choke up, and she slid her hands down her knees to meet his as they came up from his lap. He curled his fingers around hers. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" She gave a little laugh. "For what?"

"I'm…" his bottom lip trembled. "I'm sorry that you love me."

"Wait. Why?"

"Because I know I'm not…I'm not ready for you. I'm not…what you deserve to have."

She frowned. "Says who?"

He seemed thrown off by the question. "C – Cabe." At her silence, he continued. "He said I wasn't capable of giving you what you need. That I was selfish. And…and the last thing I want is to try something with you and hurt you because of the way I am."

And she'd thought Tuesday broke her heart. " _Walter_ ," she said, "you're not selfish."

" _Yes_ I _am_ ," he said forcefully. "Yes I am. Because I want you. Anyone who wants you is selfish." He dropped his eyes to his lap. "Because you're incredible."

On any other day – in any other context – she'd be melting into a puddle at his words. But not now – not when he was saying them only to invalidate himself. "No," she said, "God. No, Walter. I love you. I am…so incredibly in love." She reached over, sliding a hand along his jawline, asking him to look at her. "And aren't I the only one who gets to decide if you're what I need?" She ran her thumb along his cheek, using her other hand to squeeze his fingers gently.

"But…but isn't it…strange?" Walter asked. "I don't know of _anyone_ who got married before beginning a relationship."

She chuckled. "Has anything we've ever done been by the book?"

He smiled nervously. "I suppose not. So…" he looked scared to ask the question. "So what are we doing now? Are you saying that…are you saying that you want to be with me?"

She scooted closer, drawing his face to hers and kissing him soundly, closing her eyes sliding her hand back into his hair. His tongue slid along her bottom lip, asking for access, and she gave it to him, humming into his mouth as he pulled her close, gently. She could have just stayed like that, kissing him until neither of them remembered how to breathe, but all too soon, he pulled back, wild eyed. "I'm scared," he panted. "I'm scared of doing something wrong. Of making you hate me. I don't know how to survive without you anymore, Paige. If our lives go their separate ways…and if it's my fault…"

"Stop it," she said gently. "You're acting like you don't know how much I can't lose you, either." He blinked in surprise, as if that thought had never occurred to him. "Really?" She asked in surprise. "Walter, you've _got_ to know that you mean every bit as much to me as I mean to you." She grabbed his hand again, lifting it to her mouth and kissing it gently. "I know this is a lot to handle. I know it's non – conventional. But…" she gave him a small smile. "But I want nothing more than to stay right here. With you. You…me…Ralph…we were a family long before it was legal." She looked deep into his eyes. "All this, it's big. It's real big, but…but I'm not afraid. I know who I married." She stroked his hand with her thumb. "You want to be what I need, Walter O'Brien? Just let me stay here. By your side."

It was his turn to lean forward, and her lips curved into a smile as they brushed along his. "And," she said when they separated, "I know we never talked. About the night. That we. You know. But, um." She bit her lip. "I initiated it. And I shouldn't have."

"If you hadn't. I would have." He shook his head. "Those…those pajamas you were wearing. They were so…modest…and yet I swear my brain short circuited when I saw you in them."

She couldn't help the blush. "Really?"

He gave a short, embarrassed laugh. "Yeah. And then the next night on the Island, I just wanted to…actually, that's what I have to apologize for."

She was about to open her mouth, to insist that he didn't have to apologize for staring, that the look he'd given her almost made her climb on top of him again, regrets be damned, when he continued. "I didn't take care of you. That night."

"Walter, I…"

"I know what you're going to say, and that's not what I meant." He held up a finger, asking that she let him finish. She nodded. "I'd convinced myself, long prior to our wedding, that no matter what I'd ever allowed to play out in my head, that you and I would never be intimate. And when it happened…I regretted not going slow. Taking time. Not treating you the way I'd always imagined I would. I remember that night so vividly, and…and I just might regret that night for the rest of my days."

"Well, we know we can't change the past," Paige said. "So…I mean…we can either run from it or learn from it, right?"

He gave a small smirk. "The Lion King? Really?"

 _The_ one _movie reference he knows._ She chuckled. "What? It applies."

"Okay." He leaned in and kissed her again. She kissed him back with a fervor, tipping her head to the side for a new angle, shivering when he used the brief separation of their lips to mumble, again, that he loved her. He seemed to want to say it, again and again, now that he knew he could without the world coming apart. And the next time their lips came apart, she said it right back, and he tugged her closer in response. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, wrapped up in each other's arms, but she _did_ know that she could stay like this all night.

Or…

"Um," she said, putting a hand on his chest and opening her eyes. "I uh…I don't know how to ask this question, but…" she looked across the room, toward Walter's bed.

He followed her gaze, and when he looked back, Paige saw something in his eyes that excited her, that suggested that he just might respond favorably to what she was suggesting. "We love each other, and we _are_ married, and…" She shrugged. "I may know you really well, but…I'd like to know you even more. You know?" She gave a shy chuckle. "I was thinking maybe we could, uh, head over there. Maybe kiss a little while. Be close. See where things go?"

"Slowly."

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Slowly. Because we have all night. And it's just us."

* * *

 **The tenth and final chapter will be (at least) 5K of smut. So if that's not your thing, the story ends here, and thank you so much for reading and reviewing. If you do read on to the last chapter, also thank you for reading and reviewing, and hopefully you'll enjoy Waige _finally_ being happy.**


	10. Darling Hold My Hand

**I was initially going to space this fic out a little bit more, and take a month or so to publish it. But I'm sure everyone knows that tomorrow is a pretty big day in my country, and depending on how it goes, my mental health is at a pretty considerable risk. I didn't want to leave this fic unfinished should I drop into a dark place again, so I pushed to get it done before.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has favorited, followed, read, reviewed. I am blown away by the response to this fic, and I smile when I read your reviews. You guys are incredible. Happy episode day, and I hope you enjoy this final chapter.**

* * *

Walter's bed was comfortable.

They'd been lying there for the better part of an hour, her on her back, him on his side right up against her, their lips never separating but for breath.

His hand was resting on her stomach, the pads of his fingers pressing lightly against her shirt. He slowly pushed against a button until it popped open, allowing him to slip his fingers through and touch her skin. Paige's hand was resting on his chest, but she pulled it back as she felt his fingers slowly running over her stomach. She undid the rest of her buttons then grabbed his hand, drawing it up over one of her breasts. He rubbed back and forth with his thumb, and she sighed into his mouth. "That's nice."

"Mmmm," he responded against her lips, scooting a little bit closer. She thought he mumbled something else as his hand gently massaged her breast, but she couldn't make it out.

"I like it when you're touching me," she whispered, and she thought she felt him shudder in response.

"I love you," he murmured, sliding his hand along her side, down to her hip, trying to pull her even closer. She slid an arm around his neck, kissing along his jawline. She could feel the heat radiating between their bodies, his scent all around her. It was almost overwhelming.

But it was almost overwhelming in the best possible way.

She moved to kissing his neck, enjoying the soft sound the action pulled out of him. He'd never been kissed like this before, of this she was certain, and she wanted him to feel good, and feel safe, and know that he could completely trust her, with anything and everything. Just mere days ago, she'd been terrified that he'd never feel safe with her again, and here they were.

His finger traced along the top of her underwear, and her muscles clenched in anticipation of him touching her. But he didn't – not at first – and as he breathed into her ear while she continued to press kisses to his neck, swirling her tongue on his hot skin, his hand teased her again, running lightly over the front her underwear but still not dipping between her legs.

"Walter," she whined, her spare hand sliding down between them, pushing her underwear partway down her hips. He took the hint, sliding his hand down, and she gasped when his fingers finally pressed against her, starting to explore, gliding easily over him because she was already incredibly slick. She pushed her hips against his hand, sighing against his neck and shuddering when he found her entrance and drew his fingers across it several times before he slowly pushed a finger inside. Her hips bucked involuntarily as he pulled back and rapidly thrust his hand forward again. " _Ohhh_ , God."

He lifted his head, and she thought he was going to put his lips back on hers, but he just looked down at her, studying her face as he crooked his finger, stroking her from the inside, making her leg twitch again at the same time as another moan escaped her lips.

He added a second finger, quickening the tempo, and she tipped her head back against the pillow, whimpering. He had her. She was at his mercy. He lowered his lips to her throat, seeming to enjoy the vibrations that met his lips when she moaned while he was kissing her there. Her hips rocked against his hand as his fingers continued to move, sometimes thrusting, other times curling inside her to hit just the right spot. Her eyes opened, staring upward without the ability to focus on anything, then fell closed again, letting out a long, low sigh that steadily increased in volume. "Don't stop," she begged, panting loudly, feeling herself teetering on a glorious precipice. "I'm close, I'm close," she chanted, quietly, staring up into his eyes, somehow even more turned on by the way he was looking down at her as if he wanted to memorize exactly what she looked like when she was like this. The hand that was on his back slid up to his neck, gripping it from the back, and when his lips lowered again, to her neck, to her jawline, she tipped her head down to capture his lips with her own again.

The sensations he was creating with his fingers slowly becoming overwhelming, Paige's free hand pressed against the mattress, curling around the fitted sheet. She opened her mouth and his name escaped between their lips. His pace quickened in response, his fingers moving furiously, his thumb beginning to rub around her clit, nudging at it as he looked down at her face, and she choked his name again, her body spasming, her legs closing around his hand as her muscles clenched around him.

She became keenly aware of her breathing as her vision slowly returned to normal, and she tipped her head to look at him. Walter was looking down at her, his hand now resting gently on the soft skin just below her naval. When her eyes focused on him, he gave her a small smile and lowered his head, nuzzling her cheek with his nose. "You okay?" He whispered.

"Uh huh," she said, pressing her cheek against him.

"I love you," he whispered, as if it was possible someone else could hear and he wanted to keep the exchange just between the two of them.

She opened her mouth to reciprocate, because given their history, she wanted to reciprocate every time, looking into his eyes and making sure he knew that she meant it with every atom in her body. But his lips were on hers again, his hand sliding back up to her breast, and she shivered at his welcome touch.

Their lips separated, briefly. "I love you," she said, just as quietly as he had, sliding a hand up to his face.

"I like this," he murmured, pulling her closer. "Being close to you. Being alone."

They were both almost fully clothed – and yet Paige couldn't remember the last time she'd been in a situation that felt this intimate.

Walter pulled back, pushing up on his arms slightly, and looked down at her, clearing his throat and seeming suddenly hesitant. "I, uh…" he said. "I've never…"

Paige cocked her head. He had history. Hell, he had history with _her_.

He furrowed his brow. "I've never gone down on someone. Before. But, uh…" he licked his lower lip. "Do you…do you like that?"

Paige hesitated, her mouth open, but only managing an "oh, uh…"

Of all the men she'd dated, of the four she'd been intimate with, Drew was the only one who had ever had his head between her legs. Paige considered this much more intimate than traditional intercourse and she had to really trust – and really want – a person before she would ache for their mouth on her.

Did she like it? _Hell yes._ But was she _ready_ for it?

She let out a nervous breath, and Walter rested a hand on her stomach. "Please don't be uneasy," he said, looking concerned. "I just…last time was so quick, and traditional, and I…I want to love you. In whatever ways you want. I just…wanted to offer. I want to do whatever _you_ want."

She reached for his hand, and he looked down, watching as she pulled it up to her mouth and ran her tongue along the crease between his thumb and forefinger, back and forth, her spine tingling. He kept still, watching her. "Like that," she whispered after another moment, releasing him.

He lowered his head, kissing her again, and this time when their lips separated, she away slightly, pulling her shirt over her head and lifting her hips so he could help tug her skirt and underwear the rest of the way down her legs.

He kissed between her breasts, and she realized that he was the kind of guy who would kiss all the way down her body rather than just settling between her thighs. She hadn't experienced _that_ before. Sitting up, he unbuttoned his own shirt and took it off, dropping it off the bed and leaning back over her, kissing her in the same spot his mouth had just vacated. Then he inched a little lower. Paige's heart was pounding, and she swore she could feel it in a dozen different places. She looked down her body, where he was busy pressing kisses to her stomach, his mouth inching toward where she desperately wanted him to be.

Walter kept on kissing her stomach, going no lower than just where her hips bones started, sucking lightly on her sensitive skin and making her wiggle. She wondered if he was taking so long because he was nervous too, or because he was a tease.

And then – Paige's leg jerked, a tiny involuntary motion – Walter was touching her again, the heel of one of his hands pressing between her legs. She pushed her hips forward, gasping when he kept his hand perfectly still and let her. She ground against him desperately, needing friction, needing more, and looked down her body at him, watching as he continued to kiss around her abdomen. His mouth moved lower, and she whined as he removed his hand and began to kiss the inside of one of her thighs.

"Walter," she said, her voice cracking as she bent a leg and dug her foot into the mattress. She was aching to be touched again. He obliged, his tongue coming into contact with her and beginning to move in an identical way that she had just showed him on his hand. She clenched, moaned, and cut the moan off with a grunt, suddenly incredibly aware of _just how much_ his touch was affecting her and feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Oof," he grunted, lifting his head and giving a cough. He raised an eyebrow at her, a playful glint in his eye as he wiped his mouth on the side of her leg. "Are you trying to drown me?"

"Sorry," she said, sitting up on her hands as a laugh escaped her, even though she didn't find it funny, _oh god_. "You just…" she tried to draw a larger, slower breath, so she could speak in a complete sentence, _you're just really good at that,_ but Walter lowered his head again, licking straight up her center and swirling his tongue around her clit, and she yelped in pleasure, clapping a hand over her mouth and looking down at him with wide eyes as her hips jerked against him.

He lifted his head again – but not before he lightly blew on where his mouth had been, making tears spring to her eyes as she struggled to stay quiet. She needed to moan. But she _couldn't._ "Paige," he said with a playful smile, "no one else is here."

"Sorry," she said again, feeling her cheeks flush. She knew no one could hear them – and she knew she hadn't been quiet when he'd been pleasuring her with his fingers. But this…this was just _more intimate_ than what they'd been doing before, and she found herself incredibly self-conscious of every reaction – both physical and verbal – that she was having. And he had just started – she had always had _really_ wet orgasms from oral. She wanted to relax and enjoy it – her body certainly was already – but her mind wouldn't allow her to let go. Her mind was almost ashamed.

Walter looked at her with sudden concern. "Are you okay? Paige," he added when her lower lip trembled, and she pulled it back between her teeth. "Paige, what's the matter?" He rubbed her hip gently. "Do you want to stop?"

She shook her head. If she'd been asked to predict which one of them would be nearing a nervous breakdown and which one would be taking on a comforting role tonight, she would have guessed wrong. "I'm sorry," she said, tears springing to her eyes. "I just…it's just…" she put the back of her hand against her mouth as she tried to get composed. "It's has been a _really long time_ since _this_ has happened and I'm just a little overwhelmed."

"When was the last time?" He asked.

"When…when Ralph was two."

The realization of _just how long_ made his eyes widen. "Oh."

"This specifically is just…I feel more vulnerable than when your head is up here. It's not normally a part of my sex life…when I have one."

"We can stop," Walter said again, keeping his eyes on her as he kept stroking her hip. "Or we can try something else."

"No." She took a deep breath and let it out. "Walter, what you're doing is _so_ good. You feel incredible. I just need a minute."

"Okay." He scooted up a bit, putting another kiss on her stomach, right over one of her stretch marks. She ran a hand affectionately through his hair. Her body wanted his mouth back where it had just been; she could feel her pulse at the apex of her thighs, but her brain – _her_ brain, such irony – hadn't caught up yet. She panted lightly, as he kept kissing her, staying above her hips, watching her face. She whimpered quietly, staring back at him, wanting to beg him to move lower but knowing if he did, right now, she'd falter mentally.

"This all okay?" He asked, and she nodded, because it was, it all felt surreal, she wanted him desperately, she wished she didn't have this mental wall to clear.

"You _are_ stunning," he said, lifting up and looking down into her eyes. "You know when I was, uh, in space…" he chuckled, almost looking embarrassed. "You were…or, I'd imagined you were wearing the dress that you wore when we danced at the art fundraiser. And you told me what the dress was called. I told you that…it should have been called a galaxy. Because it contained a heavenly body."

Paige was feeling so many things – desire, love, anxiety – that were all at the forefront of her mind and overwhelming her so badly that she almost couldn't focus on what Walter had said. But when his words registered, she burst out laughing.

Walter grinned, and she was relieved that he seemed to have intended for the story to be comic relief. She lifted a hand to his cheek. "That's so sweet," she said, still chuckling, smiling up at him gratefully. She'd spent so long trying to be a safe space for him that she hadn't fully realized that somewhere along the line he had become the same to her.

"You know I've uh, I've never experienced this before," he said. "Wanting someone like this. Actually being attracted to someone as opposed to just understanding that someone was conventionally attractive. I suppose it made me rather…over the top…when my O2 levels were low."

"I'm sure I was all over everything you said to me," she said.

"I'd rather have this," he said, lowering himself and kissing her shoulder. "This is real."

A tiny moan passed through her lips as he kept kissing her, tongue swirling over her sensitive skin just inside and below her shoulder. His story had provided her with a short armistice from the battle that her body was fighting with her mind, but once his lips were back on hers, she ached for him again. Walter trailed his tongue over one of her breasts, then ran it back and forth along the underside. He couldn't have known – but he'd reached their most sensitive region. Paige panted harder, her arms suddenly feeling weak from keeping herself sitting up. She thrust her chest up against his mouth, moaning again, louder this time, as he kept on, kissing, licking, sucking gently.

He placed a kiss between them, slow, tender, then moved to one of her nipples, his tongue swirling around it, and she couldn't take it anymore. "Walter," she said, her voice barely coming out, and when he lifted his head, she shifted her weight to one arm and pushed lightly on his shoulder with the other.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes," she said immediately. "Please." She thought she might break one of the beams that held the garage together if he didn't have his mouth on her _right now._

He nodded, stretching up to kiss her on the lips, and she could still detect her own taste, faintly, on his lips from when he'd been down there before. It made her want him even more, and she groaned as her clit throbbed, almost painfully, aching to be touched.

He slowly began to descend down her body, quicker than he had before, but still not rushing, until he was settled back between her legs. He turned his head, kissing her thigh gently, then looked up at her. "Does, uh…" He cleared his throat. "Does it make you more or less nervous when, uh…I do this?"

She almost asked him what he meant, then she realized he wasn't sure if not getting right down to it increased the feelings of hesitance. She let out a slow breath, leaning back against the pillows. "Maybe…just for tonight…just get started."

"Okay." He cocked his head. "You'll tell me if…"

"Yes." She nodded. "Yes."

Paige closed her eyes just before she felt him come into contact with her again – but the touch was not immediately where she expected. His hand had slid up, finding one of hers. She clung to it like a lifeline.

He gently began to suck at her lower lips, and she whimpered, both from the sensation of his mouth on her and from the emotions that coursed through her when he took her hand. That action had long been a source of comfort for both of them, from the afternoon in the fire to the aftermath of Megan's death to the bomb in the garage to a week ago in Colorado and so many other little instances where this very contact had given them both immense security. If she needed any more reassurance that she was safe with him, this was it.

Walter kept on, doing exactly what she'd instructed him to do earlier, then switching it up, sometimes licking with the tip of his tongue, sometimes flattening it. Paige gasped, feeling him squeeze her hand reassuringly in response. She loved him all the more for it. What on _Earth_ had she done to deserve feeling this adored?

His tongue circled around her clit, seeming to take note that her sharp intakes of breath happened when he was perusing along the left side, so he focused there. His tongue ran up and down the left side, never _quite_ touching the pulsing, darkening bundle of nerves. "Oh my God," she breathed. "Walter, that's good."

She pushed her head firmly back against the pillow as her hips pumped against his face, feeling his free hand wrap around one of her legs to hold her in place. She whimpered, twisting almost onto her side before falling back, her whimper turning into a moan when Walter followed her movement, his mouth never leaving her.

She gripped Walter's hand tightly, sighing loudly when he increased his speed, drawing her knees closer together in an attempt to make sure he didn't move away now. With his free hand, he pushed on one, forcing them apart, his tongue swirling around her clit, faster still, and Paige lifted her free hand to one of her breasts, rubbing her thumb over her nipple.

Walter's name rushed from her lips, the first syllable clear, the second unintelligible, more of a yelp, and her muscles contracted rapidly as her hips jerked against his face. Walter kept his mouth on her, licking, sucking, all with a gentleness that made everything more intense because _God_ was it clear how much he loved her.

Her legs were shaking, and he brought his left hand up as he kissed the inside of her right thigh, rubbing her gently from hip to knee. She put a hand over her forehead, panting.

Walter crawled up the bed and kissed her deeply, and she sucked on his bottom lip, needing air but willingly foregoing it for the moment. Walter pulled back, wrapped his arms around her, and rolled them so he was on his back, his arms wrapped around her, keeping her close. He looked pleased when he saw her face – she knew she was grinning like an idiot but she couldn't help it. "We save the world at least once a week," she said, smiling down at him, "but if I had to rank the most incredible things you've ever done, well, _that_ would be near the top of the list."

He chuckled, smiling at her, the love she knew he felt for her overflowing his eyes. "You know how I was looking out at the moon earlier? When you came up here?"

"Mmm hmm."

"I was thinking. About you and me. All the moon does is orbit the Earth. And you're my whole world, Paige. Everything I am just circles around you."

Paige felt like she was actually melting, and she figured she was in as good a place for it as any.

"But I'm not entirely. Like the moon." He tipped his head to the side. "The moon has a side to it that we never see. All she does is orbit around the Earth, but she never lets us know all of her. And…and I want to share everything about me with you. I…" He trailed off, looking at her with such intensity that she thought she might burn up right where she lay. "I trust you with every vulnerability I have, Paige. And I hope that you always feel like you can trust me right back. I want to be that person for you. I want to be your oasis."

She lowered her voice again – even though there still wasn't anyone around. "You are."

His arms were wrapped around her lower back, and she felt his hand rubbing her skin gently. It made her extra aware of their every point of contact, from where their stomachs pressed together, to where his other hand rested respectfully high on her hip to where his desire for her was evident between her legs, though still within the confines of his pajama pants. Paige pushed her hips back and down against him, watching as he closed his eyes and groaned softly. "So," she said, quietly. "The moon just rocked my world, so how about I make _you_ see stars?"

She tried to scoot down his body, but was met with a surprising resistance when he clamped his arms around her, preventing her from going anywhere. "No."

Paige was more than a little surprised – and she wasn't sure if it was moreso because he stopped her or because he so quickly understood her awful metaphor in the first place. "But…what about you?"

He shook his head. "I've never been able to…more than once. And maybe…with you…I could. I don't know. But I uh, I don't want to try tonight. Because tonight, if I only can once…I want to be inside you."

Now it was him that looked uncomfortable, and she ran a hand gently along the side of his face. "Okay." She pushed her bottom, upward, asking him to release her, and he removed his hands from her lower back, reaching for the waistband of his pants and wiggling them down his legs, kicking them off the side of the bed.

Paige, kneeling with one leg on either side of him, leaned forward and kissed him, resting on his upper body, her hips in the air, as she reached down between them and ran her hand over his boxers, pleased when she heard and felt his breath hitch. She lifted up off of him, smiling, her hand growing bolder, massaging him through the fabric. He put his hands on her thighs, tipping his head back and grunting. "Paige."

"What?" She asked with a smile. "I can't tease you a little bit?" She put her hand on his stomach, sliding it down, stopping where skin met fabric, the same game he'd played with her earlier.

"Paige," he said again, agitated. His fingers pressed into her skin.

"Are you going to get overwhelmed when I touch you?" She asked.

"Maybe," he grunted. She could hear his breathing. She liked that. She was in control now – at least _for_ now. Grinning, Paige leaned over to kiss him again, then spit into her palm and slid her hand into his boxers, wrapping it around him. He responded by grabbing her hips, trying to push her down, and after tugging at him for another minute or so, she obliged, placing both hands on the mattress, one on either side of him, and lowering herself, slowly rocking her hips forward and back, grinding down on him and making him groan. Her arms trembled; the friction felt good and she let out a quiet moan herself, frustrated at the layer of clothing between them while simultaneously smug at how hard she'd gotten him and how much teasing she still had to do.

She lowered herself, kissing his stomach, his muscles tightening under her touch. She swirled her tongue on his skin, her hips continuing to move, and his hands slid up her legs and around her bottom, holding her in place, fingers pressing into her skin. Her tongue found one of his nipples and lightly traced around it, and she heard him say something that she couldn't quite make out. She continued to tease his nipple, remembering how self-conscious he was about her seeing them when she was helping change his bandages after he'd been in space. She was glad he didn't mind now, because she was quite enjoying the reactions she was getting out of him.

She sat up, lifting her hips off of him, helping him tug his boxers the rest of the way down his legs. He reached over, opening the drawer at his bedside table, and pulling out the condoms that he'd been keeping there, the deliberately half empty box that was a prop for immigration. Paige watched as he covered himself. Then she leaned forward again, rolling her hips along his length, pleased at the way his eyes rolled back as they closed. She smiled smugly. She loved teasing him.

But the way he brushed her clit every time she moved back and forth over him was making her arms weak, and she no longer had full control over the game. She stopped moving and looked down at Walter. "You okay?"

He looked back at her. He wasn't quite panting, but his mouth was open, and his gaze was one of the most intense things she'd ever seen. But there was still a slight hesitance in it, something she knew she'd have missed if she didn't know him so well. "Hey," she said, lifting up slightly. "No pressure."

"L…last time…"

"Just pretend _this_ is our first time," she said. "It can be like that night never happened." Reaching down between them, she guided him to her entrance and kept him there, her lips clinging to his head, seeing his abdomen clench and his hips lifted slightly. She'd initially been hesitating only to wait for him to give her the okay, but she lifted up slightly, not letting his small thrust get him anywhere.

" _Paige_."

She grinned. When he put his hands on her hips again, she repositioned, then slowly began to lower herself onto him. "Last time _neeever_ happened. Don't think about it."

Walter tipped his head back and groaned. "Ah, that's not going to work." He drew in a breath. "It's all burned into my memory."

"Then how about this," she suggested, "it happened, but it didn't count. Because we weren't together in the way we are now."

"Uh," Walter grunted. "Okay."

"Good." Paige pushed down around him a little more and stopped, biting her lip.

Walter looked at her with concern. "You okay? Paige?"

"My legs are too weak for this," she said, blushing slightly as she saw Walter's smirk, delighted in the obvious reason why.

He sat up, sliding his arms around her back and smiling as he looked into her eyes. "Mmmm yeah?" He asked, his confidence clearly bolstered. "Why is that?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Because," she said in a low voice, "you're not just a genius at computers."

Walter rolled them over, holding her tightly so he wouldn't slip out of her. Once she was on her back, Paige hooked her legs around him, placing her hands on the sides of his face, and pressing her nose to his as he slowly began to thrust. She wrapped an arm around him, her hand pressed firmly against his back, and she curled her other arm around his neck, tipping her head to the side. She ran her tongue along the outside of his ear, sighing into it when one of his hands returned to her breast, rubbing the pad of his thumb over her nipple. " _Yes_ ," she breathed, curling her hand in his hair. Tightening her legs around him and pulling him deeper inside her, Paige wonder if her breathing was as heavy as she heard it.

Walter's eyes were open when he lifted his head, looking down at her again, and when their eyes locked, she kept hers open, and suddenly, she was transported back to Vietnam, when they were holding on for dear life, debris flying everywhere as the tornado engulfed them, but neither she nor Walter had closed their eyes. They'd never talked about it, but she felt that if she couldn't see him as he held onto her, that their grip would fail. She wondered if he'd thought the same thing, as he risked being blinded to keep the eye contact with her.

Tonight, there was no risk of that. But she was mesmerized, yet again, by the intensity she saw in his eyes, and they stayed like that, staring into the windows of their souls, as their bodies continued to move in tandem.

Eventually, Walter lowered his head again, kissing her on the mouth, then on the neck. She tightened herself around him, consciously, and she heard him groan, a sharp _ha_ against her neck. She did it again, another _ha_ , and then "good _God_ , Paige." His breath was hot on her neck as he stopped thrusting, and she could feel him trembling in the effort it was taking not to move. He lifted his head, breathing hard. "Are you doing that on purpose?"

She smirked and repeated the effort, causing his hips to start to move again, against his will, as his eyes fell closed and he groaned. Paige bit her lip, stifling her own sound, and tightened again, causing his hips to pump faster. "Paige, _stop_." He stilled again, grunting loudly, then panting heavily with the effort, then pulled his hips back, drawing all the way out of her. "Can you…"

She nodded, understanding, and sat up and reached out, placing her thumb and fingers where he needed and squeezing firmly, counting to ten in her head. He gasped in relief when she released him, then gave her a warning look. "Do _not_."

"But I like watching you come undone like that."

"Not…before you."

She lay back again. "Walter, tonight has been so…"

"I know." He knelt between her knees, rubbing one of her legs gently. "But I'm not ready for it to end yet." He looked down between her legs, sliding his hand down her leg, and she whimpered quietly at the memory of his touch. He moved his hand back up, all the way to her knee, then back down, this time running his thumb over her clit. She closed her eyes, her hips bobbing against his hand. When he eased slowly back into her, he kept his hand moving, making her yelp from the intensity of the stimulation. He leaned over her, balancing on his forearm, dropping his head to kiss her. She eagerly captured his lips, absorbing his groan as his hips began to move again, and she thrust up to meet him, feeling herself begin to tense, building toward release, the extra stimulation and her two earlier orgasms making her tighter, making it not take her as long. Walter was moving slowly again, deliberately, whispering his love for her between kisses, and she breathed the words right back at him, because she'd gone without saying them for so, so long.

She whispered his name, her eyes falling close and her mouth hanging open as he moved to kissing her neck, both his arms now working to keep his upper body controlled. "Oh God." She started to moan again, the sensations so powerful she thought she might _actually_ , _literally_ come apart. He picked up the pace, and her hips quickened in response, her heels digging into him, _god damn_. Her fingers were twisted around his curls and she didn't realize how tightly until he shook his head in protest. So instead she pressed her hand flat against the back of his head, keeping him where he was, his tongue teasing her neck, growing sloppier by the minute.

"I'm…Paige…" Walter managed, his breath coming in quick bursts against her neck. "I'm _so_ close."

"Me too," she gasped. "Don't…don't stop." _I'm going with you. Let go, it's okay. You're always okay with me._ She wanted to say the words, but her mind was blurring; forming a coherent sentence would be an impossible task. She could feel him try to slow his tempo, felt his entire body shake as he grunted in frustration, desperately still trying to delay the release his body needed. She tightened her legs around him, pumping her own hips harder, faster and tightening around him again, on purpose, in a steady rhythm. He groaned loudly against her neck. "Come for me, Love," she managed, the term of endearment easing off her tongue as if she used it all the time. She grabbed one of his hands, moving it to her breast, and he flicked and pinched at her nipple, driving her over the edge mere moments before he plunged deep into her one last time and stilled, his hips firmly in contact with her own.

They were both gasping, and she felt hot, from the effort that they'd put, the flush that was spreading across her body, and from his own body heat, radiating off of him and making her sweat even more than she already was. "Oh God," she said, running her fingers through his hair. "Oh, Walter, I love you."

Her legs were weak; she wanted to lower them, but she didn't. He was breathing hard, his head buried in her neck, and she kept her legs around him as he lay on top of her, wanting him to know that she loved when they were this close together, and she wasn't done with him just because their night was at a natural stopping point.

When he lifted his head to look down at her, she saw his eyes searching her face. "Are you okay?" He asked her, yet again.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I'm really, really good." She ran the backs of her fingers lovingly down his cheek. "Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm here with you, aren't I?"

She shook her head, marveling at just how often the words that spilled out of his mouth were exactly the right words to say. "Yeah," she said quietly, continuing to stroke his face. "You're here with me."

He leaned down and kissed her again, slowly, sweetly, and she closed her eyes, savoring the closeness. Whatever he thought he hadn't given her before, he clearly had no such worries tonight.

As well he shouldn't. Paige couldn't remember ever feeling this overwhelmingly loved. "Walter?" She said quietly against his lips.

He lifted his head slightly. "Hmmm?"

"I always say it's a cliché when this happens in the movies, but…" she bit her lip. "Tonight was amazing. I…I'm so happy."

"Happy?" He asked, a smile coming over his lips. "I make you happy?"

She chuckled. "You need me to tell you that?"

"No, I suppose not. I just…I like hearing you say it." He lifted up and off of her, rolling onto his back. She closed her eyes, stretching and shifting to her side. When she opened them, Walter was on his feet, picking up his boxers and stepping back into them. "Do you want anything?" He asked, gesturing vaguely to the floor.

"Nah." She wiggled, tugging the covers out from under her and scooting underneath them. She wanted to ask him if he was comfortable cuddling, but she knew that might have to wait for another day.

But they would have other days. They were going to have a lot of them.

He got back in bed, easing under the covers, and tipped his head to look at her, giving a small smile, again appearing almost shy. "You…planning to stay over there all night, or…"

She grinned, closing the distance between them, putting her head on his chest and sighing contentedly as he wrapped his arms around her. One of his hands found hers, and they lazily linked fingers as he kissed the top of her head and, again, told her that he loved her. She mumbled it back sleepily, her wedding ring reflecting off of _something_ in the dim light. Or maybe there was no glint at all. Maybe it just looked brighter to her now.

She had a feeling that everything was going to look a little bit brighter from this day forward.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. :)**


End file.
